Narcosis
by demjellyrolls
Summary: It's been four years since the incidents with Heavenly Host and the Shinozaki Estate. Yoshiki is now a detective for the local police department, and when a new drug, Magic, makes an impact on the streets similar to something very familiar. It might lead old friends to be united in an attempt to stop a new rising evil. YoshikixAyumi mainly. Rated M for drugs, violence and sex. Oc's
1. Magic

**Narcosis **

**Ch. 1: Magic**

((This idea came to me in a dream. Don't judge me and my genious.))

Stepping out of his apartment, Yoshiki watched his breath leave his lips, the carbon dioxide exiting his lungs and reentering the atmosphere ((Imma nerd)). It was a cold, winter morning with a fog hanging over the houses and streetlights. It was time to go to work as a homicide detective for the local Police Department. Stuffing his gloved hands in his coat pockets he made his way off to work, leaving footprints on the frosted sidewalk. Each day on his way to his job, Yoshiki would pass by Kisaragi Academy, his shift began at six in the morning so at around 5:40 am, the school would be barren of students. As he passed the empty building everyday though, he couldn't help but think back to those fateful days where one innocent friendship charm had brought a world of hell to him and the rest of his classmates who survived the closed spaces of Heavenly Host Elementary. It's been four years since the tragedy that took place at Heavenly Host and the incidents after, yet he still remembers it as if it happened yesterday. He kept his focus on the school until he fully passed it by, then with a sad sigh he turned his focus back to the destination ahead.

Moments later, he walked into the busy police station and made his way to the large office that had read in bold, black letters on the door, 'Detective Kishinuma'. After a few good mornings from his colleagues, he pulled out his keys and unlocked the office door. Once inside, he removed his coat, gloves and a knit beanie that his sister had made him and hung them up on a coat rack. He then paused, looking at his reflection in the window that shown the busy people bustling about outside his office. Clad in a white button up shirt, a dark black jacket and black jeans his gold police badge hooked onto his front belt loop, he ran his fingers through his bleached blond hair. Thinking as he gazed at his reflection about how it didn't appear that he'd aged since high school. His thought process was interrupted by a familiar face at his window and an excited wave. With that a girl with jet black hair and a low cut floral blouse and black slacks opened the door and bounded in the room. Her bright emerald eyes focused on him as she handed him a steaming mug.

"Good morning detective, I thought you might like some coffee."

He nonchalantly accepted the hot mug from her and took a swig. "Thanks Ms. Shueda."

"You're most welcome, and I told you that you can call me Anna." She bowed showing more cleavage than she should in the work environment, though he didn't seem to notice and just nodded at her remark staring off into the distance before he set the mug down on his desk and walked over behind it, using his keys to unlock the desk drawers. He opened one up and removed his gun, holstering it on his brown belt. She watched him as he sat down on his chair and pulled out a couple of case files, his blue/grey eyes scanning over them. She cleared her throat in an attempt to get his attention. "So, I was wondering, there is this new dessert café and I was hoping that tonight, if you might have a break between all your cases that you would like to go, um, with me."

"Hmm… Oh." He looked up from his files. "Thank you for the offer but, I gotta be honest I don't know how the day looks until all the cases come in. Weekdays aren't usually good for plans. I think I told you that I usually have to make plans a week in advance if I have any chance to follow through with them." He went back to the files.

She nodded vigorously. "Yes, of course. You're busy, I understand, so maybe this coming weekend or next?"

"Huh?... Oh sure." He stood up and handed her the cases. "Could you go file these, they're all solved cases."

She paused, open mouthed as she grabbed the case files from his outstretched hand. "…Oh…Y-Yeah, I'll get right to that. " She nodded and quickly left the room, shoulders lowered in slight disappointment. He then leaned against his desk, sipping the coffee he received as he listened to the chatter that ensued once the girl who had invited herself into his office had left. A couple patrolmen had greeted her as she exited.

"Give it up girl, even when the guy does go out on a date with some nice lookin' chick. It never seems to work out."

"Who knows, maybe I could be different." She smirked resting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, I think he's made it clear you're not and he ain't interested."

"Do you guys have to be so cruel?" She stormed off in a huff, her arms folded across her busty chest.

"Do you think it's because he might be gay?"

"Nah, that can't be it. If it was, he would at least take an interest in guys. He doesn't seem to have a romantic bone in his body."

"Yeah, he just can't seem to find love."

"Guys, c'mon. He is only 21; I'm still surprised he's already a detective, same with that friend of his."

Yoshiki sighed, tiring of the gossip about him and pulled his wallet out of his jacket pocket. He opened it up and pulled out a somewhat faded photo. Some of the faces were blacked out, but his focus was on a blue haired girl standing next to his best friends little sister. "Shinozaki." He whispered aloud as his gaze focused on his black all weather boots then back at the photo.

"Still looking at that picture, eh Yoshiki?" He looked up to see none other than his good friend from high school, Satoshi Mochida, now a narcotics detective with the department. He was wearing a long sleeved, white button up shirt with his badge hanging around his neck, blue jeans and white tennis shoes, his gun holstered at his side. Yoshiki frowned at his friend's appearance and stood to his feet, pocketing the picture.

"How can you dress so lightly on days like this, it's freezing?"

Satoshi merely laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Hey man, it's nice and warm in here. But, on another note it's now pretty obvious why you won't take that secretary up on her offers. What was it, Anna right? You just can't forget about Shinozaki can you?"

There was a long pause as Yoshiki looked back at his shoes. "…Yeah."

"Why don't you try looking her up?"

"I'm no stalker, and besides she might be in a relationship with someone else."

"But, she might not be. Also, you're more of the guy that hunts down stalkers."

Yoshiki shrugged with a slight chuckle. "Well, I guess you could say that."

"So, let's look her up." With that Satoshi flew behind Yoshiki's desk, opening up his lap top. "What was your password again?"

"Can you just….. Can you not…."

"What's the problem? Shinozaki would be a better choice than that secretary chick. Because Naomi told me that you seem to be more of an ass man than a tit man."

Yoshiki's expression faltered. "You normally discuss these things with your wife?"

"We talk about everything." He smiled brightly. "And you're not denying it."

Yoshiki's eyebrow twitched slightly and he let out an irritated sigh. "Please, this goes for you, your wife, or anyone else. Please stop getting involved in my love life."

Satoshi laughed. "Aw c'mon. Just tell me the password."

"Satoshi…. No…. Just….Just no."

Satoshi sighed in defeat. "Fine, be the loner type that shoots down every girl that's attracted to you. Which are practically half the girls here by the way."

"That doesn't really matter to me. And you're still sitting in my chair." There was a long pause before Satoshi leaned back in the chair.

"I tell you, I don't know what half the department is talking about when they tell me I made a mistake by marrying so young. Marrying Naomi was the best decision of my life. I'm living happily with my best friend. I mean you're my best friend too just, I wouldn't want to marry you." Satoshi chuckled.

This remark made Yoshiki burst with laughter. "Aw, you've broken my heart."

"I'm so sorry." Satoshi said with a smile.

"Why wouldn't you marry me? I'm a lovable guy."

"You would want to be my wife?" Satoshi raised his eyebrow.

"Satoshi please, we both know you would be the wife."

Both shared a laugh as Yoshiki set his now empty mug down on his desk. "But no homo though."

Satoshi stifled a fit of laughter as he held up his hand. "That was the gayest thing you've ever said and you follow it up with 'no homo'."

Yoshiki shrugged with a smile. "I don't see the problem." They shared more fits of laughter, which soon ended as the Deputy Director of the department entered the room.

"Detective Mochida, aren't you supposed to be in your office, not Detective Kishinuma's?"

"Yes sir! Sorry sir!" Satoshi panicked giving him a salute before falling backwards and flailing wildly as he tumbled back in Yoshiki's chair, landing flat on his back. Yoshiki began to crack up at the whole spectacle but tried to hide his laughter as the Deputy Director cleared his throat.

"Yes well, I need both of you to get down to the conference room. You're both due at the board meeting that's happening in a moment." With that, the Director closed the door and made his leave. Allowing Yoshiki to double over in laughter as Satoshi pulled himself from the floor, peering over Yoshiki's desk.

"Oh you think that's so funny don't you?!"

Yoshiki held his stomach gasping for air and holding up his finger, indicating that he needed a minute. Satoshi waited, tapping his fingers on Yoshiki's desk as his friend caught his breath and finally spoke, standing to his feet. "If you had seen it."

"Yeah, yeah, he wasn't laughing." They both made their way to the door, Yoshiki locking it behind them as soon as they made their exit. "What do you think this meeting's about anyway?"

"Don't know." Yoshiki shrugged. "Guess we'll find out."

As soon as the two entered the meeting room they were immediately ushered to take their seats without even a single glance to their other colleagues in the room. Right after, the Director began talking, flashing a power point up which showed the usual horrifying images of human violence. Though after the brutality and mutilation that was witnessed by the two young detectives in Heavenly Host, nothing seemed to bother them. However, the images of small vials of black, viscous liquid that flashed across the screen as he talked caught both of their attention.

"Incidents of rape, assaults and even murder all caused by this new drug going around, simply called, Magic. We don't know much about it; in fact, doctors won't release any scientific name or what type of chemical compounds it's made from. All we know is that it's composed of some dark liquid laced with a strong aphrodisiac." He moved onto the next slide, displaying a lovely young, dark haired woman wearing a hospital gown. "We do know that there are some sick doctors out there trying to force this drug into their patients. The latest victim here is Kaori Hasegawa. She is a patient at a psychiatric hospital whose physician, a man be the name of Dr. Mitsuhito Amagasaki attempted to force this drug onto her. This is the Hospital where the incident took place."

He changed the slide to an image of the front entrance of Amare Patriarcha Crucis Hospital. "Of course the victim screamed and called out for help, leading way for other doctors and nurses to rush to her room and come to her aid, though through the ensuing chaos, Dr. Amagasaki disappeared." Another slide transition, this time showing a dismembered and partially decomposed corpse. "We found his remains in the woods not far from the rural town that lies next to the Kishi train station. So far, there has been little evidence from the corpse."

"Hey, Yoshiki." Satoshi whispered. "Is it just me or does that black goo remind you of something familiar, like I dunno, the Darkening maybe?"

"Yeah, but how would it have gotten here? Heavenly Host is full of, what was it again, closed dimensional spaces. Come to think of it, where that doctor's body was found was near the Shinozaki estate too." Yoshiki whispered back rubbing his chin, Satoshi nodded and then focused back on the power point slides.

"Just a couple moments ago, we've had a very recent victim from the same hospital come forward and tell us of another physician who tried to force the dangerous drug on her. She is requesting to have a couple of officer's watch over her, for she fears for her life of this man without a doubt. So until this bastard possibly turns up dead like the last one, I'm assigning two, three or four detectives in here to keep an eye on this girl and track down any information about this drug, and any doctors involved with it."

"Oh great, bodyguard duty, count me out." One exclaimed loudly.

"I've selected the very best of you, so you should be damn well honored. It's a big case, which means a big job. But if you don't want the big bucks, by all means get the hell out." The Director snapped quickly quieting the nuisance in the room. "So how about you all talk to her yourself before decide whether you'll take on the case or not."

"Sir, Yoshiki and I will gladly take this case on."

"Uh…. Satoshi…"

"Detective Mochida, you haven't even met this girl yet."

"Well bring her in here, it's not gonna change our minds."

"Since when do you speak for the both of us?" Yoshiki rested his head in his hand, feeling one of his usual migraines begin to hit him.

The familiar click of the door opening distracted them and as they turned to face the small figure that walked into the room, their mouths dropped. Yoshiki jumped to his feet his eyes wide, his mouth hung open, unable to speak. Clad in black wedge and raised winter boots, dark purple thermal tights, a black skirt, black jacket and a white scarf and carrying a light pink bag over her shoulder was a very familiar face. Her blue hair done up in the usual pigtails, and her dark blue eyes filled with tears, she stood in front of the room and began to speak.

"My name is Ayumi Shinozaki, I'm sure that this kind man has told you all about the situation. I just…." She began sobbing. "I just need your help. My doctor, his name is Saito Kasemura, he told me he will always know where I am and would always find me. I just need to know I can be safe." The Director went over to soothe her.

"I want you to tell everything you know to the detectives I assign to look after you. I know it may hurt but, it's necessary for us to get a warrant on this guy." She dried her tears, and after nervously glancing around she nodded as she felt more hot tears form in her eyes and covered her face.

Yoshiki swallowed hard upon seeing her now, she hadn't aged since their days in high school, though the way she dressed made her more sophisticated. If it weren't for the situation he would be smiling at the sight of her, she's absolutely beautiful. But he can't stand seeing her with tears in her eyes, "Shinozaki." He whispered softly.

"Bwaaaahhhhh." Satoshi slowly held up his finger pointing directly at her, his mouth agape as complete gibberish poured from his lips. The commotion had caught her attention and she turned to look over at the two.

"Kishinuma-kun…. Mochida-kun…. Oh my goodness." She wiped her eyes. "I haven't seen you two in so long."

"Gah! It is you! Hey, how are things? Oh right, not well. That's what we're here for!" Satoshi chuckled.

"Hi, Shinozaki." Was all Yoshiki could manage.

"You know these two Miss?" The Director looked astonished as she nodded. "Well, small world. Normally this would go against protocol but, since you'll feel more comfortable being with people you know in your house. I'll assign Detectives Kishinuma and Mochida to the case."

"I don't see any reason why I should disagree with that decision." Yoshiki said calmly.

"You can count on us sir." Satoshi saluted rather foolishly.

"Thank you." Ayumi bowed with a slight smile. "I'm fine with this situation. I would very much enjoy catching up with some old friends of mine." Yoshiki inwardly smiled himself seeing her a bit happier. She looks so much prettier when she smiled.

"Great, they'll accompany you home this evening and keep watch of you and your home over the night."

"The whole night?" She gasped. "Sir, is there any female officers that can join them, I don't want a couple of guys watching me change or shower or anything."

"We wouldn't do anything like that Shinozaki." Satoshi waved his hands, he then nudged Yoshiki with his elbow, "Can't be too certain about you though." Satoshi whispered in his ear.

"Satoshi, shut up." Yoshiki muttered through grit teeth.

"Now, now you two, the ladies demands must be met." He pressed the button on the intercom on the desk. "Miss Shueda, could you send me Officers Takai and Kobayashi? Thank you." After turning off the intercom he looked back to the group. "All the rest of you are dismissed."

Ayumi waved for a taxi and gestured for the two to get in. Satoshi fumbled around his pocket for a bit as they sat in the cab. "I'll inform the other two to follow this cab." He quickly dialed a number and put the phone to his ear. Ayumi nodded in response to Satoshi and turned to Yoshiki and smiled. He adjusted the collar of his jacket, trying to hide the light pink blush across his cheeks.

"It really has been a while. It's good to see you again Kishinuma-Kun." He nodded in agreement. "A detective is pretty powerful position; it's interesting to see that you went from being a delinquent in high school to an officer of the law. I had a feeling you weren't as bad a guy as I previously thought." She giggled. "You've really changed for the better."

"Heh, we'll it was thanks to you. You were the one that told me to hold out until graduation." He chuckled a bit nervously as he reflected fondly on the memory of his first time meeting her.

"Oh you still remember that?" She laughed, making him smile. She's absolutely gorgeous, especially when she laughs. "It's no big deal; I was just looking out for a fellow student as class representative."

"Well my home life wasn't that great at the time. So it was nice to see you take me into consideration. My parents weren't, let's just say, that fond of me and I lived in an apartment on my own and the only family that came to visit was my sister." He told her honestly.

She nodded in an understanding way, "Yes, I heard that gym teacher mention something along those lines. My sincerest apologies, but if I had that big an impact with you, then I'm happy I was there for you and I'm happy we became friends back then." She smiled happily making him blush again, finding himself at a loss for words. "It really is good to see old friends like you and Mochida-Kun again. I've missed you." Her eyes sparkled with joy as she looked at him. "Hey, what's with that silence shouldn't you say something sweet?"

His face turned bright red and his eyes grew wide, "Oh uh. Sorry." She giggled and playfully punched him in the arm.

"Heh heh, jerk."

He rubbed the back of his head, "I…. I missed you too, Shinozaki." He returned to attempting to hide his beet red face catching a glimpse of Satoshi silently watching the whole scenario with a big smile.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Of course not Mochida-Kun." She turned and smiled at him. "Just chatting with Kishinuma-Kun. You two haven't changed a bit have you?" She giggled, once again making Yoshiki smile.

"Nope, we're still the same." Satoshi laughed. "Anyway, the other two officers are right behind us and no worries, they're both girls."

"Okay, that's good." She then gestured for the driver to pull up to a rather refined and large suburban home. "This is the place."

"This is your house?!" Satoshi gasped peering out the car window at the lovely home.

"Yes, this is it." She giggled at his reaction.

"It's huge!"

"It's not that big." She laughed as she opened her wallet and paid the driver all in cash.

"Jeeze, just how loaded are you?" Satoshi asked wide eyed as they got out.

"You do seem pretty well off Shinozaki." Yoshiki nodded in agreement.

"I have a pretty decent job." She shrugged as they made their way to the door.

A sudden loud voice stopped the three directly at the front door and they turned to see two figures in front of an unmarked police car. "The taxi was parked over here for a bit Yome."

"Yes, I saw, in fact they are standing right there in front of the door." A woman, dressed in a full police uniform, with a black beanie on her head and her blond hair covering one of her bright aqua blue eyes was pointing directly at them. Another woman with short lavender hair with a little bunny hair clip and olive green eyes spun around to face them; she was also clad in full uniform.

"Oh so you're right. Thanks Yome," She waived over at them and ran toward the door with the blond following behind her. "Hi, nice to meet you I'm Ran Kobayashi!" She vigorously shook Ayumi's hand. "You're Shinozaki-San right? You must be since these two are here." She giggled.

The blond bowed. "And I'm Azusa Takai, good evening Shinozaki-San. We're assigned to look after you under our supervisor, Knight-Kun's watch."

"And as your supervisor, I really wish you would just call my Kishinuma." Yoshiki grumbled.

"Supervisor?" Ayumi asked.

"Yup!" Ran put her hands on her hips proudly. "Yome and I are training to become homicide detectives just like Knight-Kun. Sorry, Kinght-Kun, the name just fits you." Yoshiki sighed and Azusa nodded in agreement with Ran.

"Yes, thus he is our supervisor." Azusa smiled.

"I see." Ayumi smiled back at them, though she found it rather odd that Ran is referring to Azusa as 'bride'. "Well, let's get inside." Ayumi pulled out her keys and promptly unlocked the door. "I'll make us some tea."

"You'll have to keep it warm on the kettle for us Shinozaki-San." Ran gave Ayumi a salute.

"What do you mean?" Ayumi gave the lavender haired officer a rather confused look.

"Sorry Shinozaki-San. We'll be busy setting up surveillance cameras, we want to make sure no one suspicious with intent to harm you gets pass." Azusa assured her.

"Ah, I see, that makes sense. Let me know when you're done, I'll keep the tea warm."

"Roger dodger!" Ran released her salute and the two went off to the car to get the equipment. With that, Ayumi pushed the door open and gestured for the two detectives to come in.

The house was very ornate and decorative inside. Embroidered curtains lined the windows, soft plush carpets, and several sculptures. Brilliant and artistic paintings and sketches lined the walls, all appeared to be originals. "I'll go get the tea started in the kitchen, go ahead and make yourselves at home." She gestured to the two couches surrounding the coffee table in the living room.

"Alright, just holler if something happens." Satoshi called to her as she walked toward the kitchen door throwing her jacket and scarf on the coat hanger. She turned and nodded with a smile before disappearing into the kitchen.

"This place is swanky." Satoshi wondered around the living room in awe.

Yoshiki set his shoes down by his friend's shoes and Ayumi's designer boots and hung his jacket on the coat hanger. "You could say that again….. Wait, swanky?"

"Yeah, you never heard that term used before?" Yoshiki shook his head and sat down. "Hey, don't just flop there on the couch like this is your house."

"She said make yourself at home." Yoshiki shrugged watching his friend hang up his coat and take a seat next to him. At that moment, Ayumi returned with a tray of tea and cookies. She sat the tray down on the coffee table and poured them each a glass, there was a decorative purple rose sewn into her black blouse at the front of the shoulder, Yoshiki couldn't help but smile at her beauty.

"So how have you two been since graduation?" She picked up her own cup and took a sip.

"Well, I've been pretty good." Satoshi smiled. "I got a job as a narcotics detective and Yoshiki got a job as a homicide detective as you know, yup, nothing better than giving out justice."

Yoshiki sighed and picked up the steaming tea cup placed in front of him, peering into the liquid in the cup his reflection staring back. "I guess you can call it that." He shrugged. "We've been well though, how about you Shinozaki?"

"I've been pretty good myself, after the incident that is."

Both nodded and Yoshiki lowered his head as Satoshi reached for a cookie. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to bring that up."

"Don't worry Kishinuma-Kun; it was really me that brought it up."

"So what is your job anyway, you haven't told us?" Yoshiki asked trying to change the subject. "I'm guessing something with artwork judging by your home."

"Oh, I'm actually an illustrator like I always wanted to be." She smiled proudly. "In fact, a lot of my work has become quite popular with quite a few published materials and what you see on the walls is all mine and my coworkers."

"Well that explains the nice place and the money you got." Satoshi said wiping cookie crumbs from his face. "These are delicious by the way."

"Thanks Mochida-Kun. But, it's not like I'm a millionaire or anything." Ayumi giggled.

"So are you single these days?" Satoshi asked nudging Yoshiki with his elbow, Yoshiki shot him a glare in response.

"Actually, yes, I haven't really dated much with so many trips to the hospital." She beamed at the question, probably because Satoshi was asking it, Yoshiki thought. But it soon faded. "It's kind of hard after…. Well, you know."

Satoshi's shoulders fell, and Yoshiki sighed sadly. "I'm sorry; I did not mean to go there." Satoshi shrugged disheartened.

"Don't worry about it." Ayumi brushed it aside with a smile. "How about you Mochida-Kun?"

"Well, Naomi and I actually got married a couple months ago. I bet she would be glad to see you. Yuka would be too, she's now in high school. Man, they grow up fast."

"Oh…" Satoshi noticed her shoulders sink a bit and rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Oh, I know this is some pretty unfortunate news. Yoshiki did inform me of your high school crush on me."

She smiled nervously. "Oh, is that so? Heh, I wasn't aware you knew Kishinuma-Kun. But I guess it's obvious looking back on it now. It doesn't matter now, I haven't even thought about that in a long time." There was a long pause and she turned to Yoshiki with a smile. "What about you Kishinuma-Kun?"

"What do you mean?"

"Have you found that special someone?"

Yoshiki sat up straight and turned a shade of red. "I….Uh….N-no. I haven't actually."

Ayumi giggled in that cute way he had always liked. "I guess that makes two of us." Once again there was another long pause and then Ayumi set down her tea cup. "I'm really glad I found you guys at the police station though." She folded her hands in her lap. "There's something very serious we need to talk about."

"Yeah, we figured." Yoshiki stated bluntly.

"It always seems to drag you in doesn't it?" Satoshi sighed holding his head in his hands.

She nodded, "But, this might be on a greater scale than we could ever imagine."

Hours Earlier…

"The doctor will be in shortly, you just relax here." The nurse bowed to Ayumi before leaving the office. Ayumi thanked her as she left and sat back on the patient bed looking at the I.V. line pumping a saline solution into her body. Ever since her diagnoses of PTSD and even before such, her health had severely deteriorated at many points due to the anxiety about the tragic incidents in her life. And now, here she was back in the hospital after passing out at work, apparently from dehydration. Soon after a man in a white lab coat walked in, obviously the doctor. His bespectacled eyes were almost onyx in color and his dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, he was busily looking at his patient chart before setting it on the desk and turning to his patient.

"Miss Shinozaki is it?"

"Y-yes sir."

"I'm Doctor Saito Kasemura, it's nice to meet you finally."

"You too." Ayumi paused for a bit, wondering what he meant by that 'finally' part.

"It seems you've been hospitalized quite a lot lately for malnutrition and a lot of that attributes to stress." He vigorously scribbled on a prescription pad. "I'm hoping this antianxiety medication will help easy your stress."

"Thank you doctor, but I don't think pills will cut it for me." That and she knew full well that a psychiatrist wouldn't believe any of the crap she's been put through ever since she found that charm.

"That's understandable." He adjusted his glasses and turned around folding his hands behind his back, she gave him a glance feeling uneasy. "After all, having origins coming from the Shinozaki Estate is rather stressful."

Her eyes widened and she suddenly felt incredibly unnerved by this man. What could possibly be his connection with the Shinozaki Estate? "I'm sorry, what do you mean?"

"There's really no reason to act like you don't understand. I know you're a part of that cursed family." He turned his head revealing a twisted smirk that appeared on his face. Her breath hitched, this man was disturbing. First off, how could he have figured out her curse? More importantly, she had a feeling that she had to get away from him and soon. "After all, it was through researching you that I came across this." He produced a familiar book that really made her crawl back into the far corner of the bed. "Funny, I found it in your luxurious home. It looks rather gaudy; no wonder why you hid it away so cleverly. Something this obscene shouldn't be out in the open in such a lovely home. But, it does do the trick."

"How did you find it?" She gasped. "Th-the Book of Shadows, no. No! I demand you hand it over to me immediately; you have no idea what atrocities that can bring about! I had it locked away and hidden for a reason!"

"I'm afraid I cannot, you should probably be more cleaver about your hiding places. But I digress yes, such horrible things, like what happened to your sister?"

A gasp escaped her lips and his lips curled back in a gruesome smile. "Oh yes, I know of that incident, it was in the papers. Though you should mostly blame that on yourself, it's not the books fault. And do please try and keep your voice down, there are other patients here you know."

This man was no ordinary doctor; no he was someone who knew too much. Way too much, "Just who the hell are you?! Why would you break into my home, and how did you manage to get that?!"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm just a doctor who cares about a frequent patient. I mean, so many visits for stress induced illnesses and mental collapses and break downs. That's far beyond any stress a typical adult female like yourself should have. It caught my fascination you see; your abnormalities piqued my curiosity. So I decided to do some poking around with a couple colleagues of mine to see what I could find about you. And one's home can tell a lot about a person, yours definitely told a lot about you; interesting that you choose to live so close to the old Shinozaki Estate."

"That's breaking and entering, I could have you arrested!"

"Ha! Like you have any credibility with any officer! No one in that field or even anyone here believes in anything paranormal. In fact, here you're just some psycho bitch." He stepped over brushing a strand of hair out of her face with that ever present and disgusting smile. "But I know, I've learned all about you, and you my dear are quite interesting."

She pulled away from him and smacked his hand away. "How dare you talk to a patient like that. You bastard." Ayumi felt herself tremble.

"What are you going to do about it? Hmm." Ayumi lowered her head, not even wanting to look at him anymore. "That's what I thought; you should know your place girl. That happens to be my test subject at the moment."

"Test subject?"

His smile grew wider. "Of course, you see two of my other colleagues and I and a couple of rather curious med students decided for the fun of it, we would try a spell from this ancient book here. And when we did, something truly amazing happened." His eyes grew wide as he spoke. "We thought the best location would be the run down residence of Makina Shinozaki."

Ayumi's eyes grew wide in shock. "Y-you're crazy!"

"Crazy? No just experimentation at work. When we got everything set up and performed the ritual however a huge rift appeared that seemed to cut the fabric of space and time and a blast of black mist came rushing through the opening, the atmosphere seemed to change as if we were transported to another dimension. Soon after that, all of the med students we brought there started collapsing, twitching and convulsing in fits of violence and pain." He seemed to get more excited as he continued. "Tearing out their own hair, clawing out their eyes, attacking each other like animals, ripping each other limb from limb a black gaseous substance escaping every pour of their bodies which after a while lay strewn bloodied and disemboweled across the floor, a thick black ooze seeping out of the gory carnage. We thought it fit to collect samples of the dark gunk."

She stumbled over feeling as though she was about to faint. "The Darkening…. No, not that. It can't be."

"Is that what you call it? Well, anyway the passage soon disappeared and everything felt like we were back on earth again, except for the fact that all those torn up bodies had disappeared along with the passage. We went to work the next day only to find that no one seemed to care about the missing students and when we asked about them nobody knew who they were. It was like they never even existed. Looking at the samples we collected, our curiosity fully piqued, we wanted to see how introducing this black goo to the world would impact it. Could this substance have such a great effect on a larger population as well? But first we had to make it appealing, something that would make human kind want to put into their body, do you know what that something is?"

"That doesn't matter; you can't toy with people's lives like some kind of twisted experiment! This is the Darkening you're playing with; it literally destroys a person's sanity slowly." She couldn't believe what she was hearing and how calmly this guy was about it.

"We wanted to see that for ourselves, so we wanted to make it available for mass human consumption and make it appealing for said consumption. You know what people enjoy most?" He paused as if waiting for her to answer. "Sex. Everyone enjoys sex so we added a powerful aphrodisiac to the ooze so people would want to take it. It became quite popular in the black market world where my colleague had distributed it and this lead to promising, violent and risqué results."

"That would make sense. It is the Darkening." She snarled.

"Yes well, one of my other colleagues results, Dr. Amagasaki, didn't go so well. He tried to force this drug into a patient, Kaori Hasegawa, in hopes of getting it on with her. But her screams resulted in him having to flee. We drove him out passed Kishi station near the Shinozaki Estate until things died down and we could convince the staff and police that the girl was being hysterical again. That damn Amagasaki was screwing everything up cause he wanted to get his rocks off. The crazy bitch followed us their though, how the hell she knew where to go, we had no idea. There was that same black and purple mist seeping out of her so somehow he successfully got her to ingest the drug. This mist lifted Dr. Amagasaki into the air and in the blink of an eye he simple exploded into several pieces, limbs flew in each direction as it rained down blood and viscera on Miss Hasegawa who had quite the pleased look then with that she slowly made her leave. We followed her back to Kishi station where she shouted something like 'Shiho I'm coming soon.' then jumped in front of an oncoming train, splattering into a mass of blood and viscera herself, like a bug against a windshield. Heh, interesting phenomena though, Amagasaki was screwing things up and she was some psychotic girl so good riddance to them both."

"She probably suffered a great deal, that poor girl." Ayumi felt tears sting her eyes. "You monster."

"Aside from that, my other colleague is doing his experiments so I figured now I can start mine. And as I had hoped, I can perform them on the being that holds the origins of the curse, on its source, which is why I'm so happy to see you today."

"Do you think I'm just going to sit still and let you infect me with the Darkening? I know, of your plot now. It's not going to work."

"Oh but I already have, you see as a rich doctor I can pay interns, nurses, other doctors, hell even druggies and nymphos on the street looking for a hot fix of our drug which I have dubbed Magic, to do my bidding for me. So not only do I have an army against you as long as you resist but, I may have given the nurse a little extra something to put in your I.V. bag besides saline."

Her eyes wide in fear she slowly looked up at the bag, it appeared to be a normal I.V. bag with a saline solution but upon closer inspection she saw black mist arise from the liquid inside the bag, with a loud shout she reached to pull the I.V. out only for the doctor to grab her hand.

"Ah ah ah, we can't have that now, you'll ruin the experiment. By the way, I hope there's a hot date in your life, a boy you like perhaps 'cause you're gonna rock his world tonight, even if it kills him." He laughed in a sadistic manner.

"You heartless bastard, I'm going to the police!"

"Like I said, good luck trying to explain that, as if they would believe you."

"Let me go!" As she tried to struggle free she felt a sharp hypodermic needle dig into her neck and a wave of drowsiness hit her like a truck.

"Shhhh, go to sleep now. Tonight, my little test subject you will shine." He stroked her hair. "You're so precious when you're falling asleep, so adorable and innocent." A thin line of drool trickled down his chin.

"You disgusting pervert…. You better watch yourself….. You might end up like that Dr. Amagasaki." She was able to get out that last threat before collapsing back on the bed, overcome by the sleeping drug forced into her body. The last thing she heard was that same nurse asking if everything was okay now and if 'the subject' wasn't causing a ruckus anymore. The sicko of a doctor told her that everything was fine, then darkness.

Present Time…

"And then when I woke up. I was in the reception area, so I quickly made it over to the police station as fast as I could. Apparently they've known about the drug Magic for a while now, and about the death of Dr. Amagasaki." Ayumi sighed feeling tears in her eyes again. "I was just so happy to see you guys, cause I knew then that I could tell the whole story."

"Don't worry Shinozaki, we'll hunt this bastard down." Satoshi assured her.

"We're here for you. You know that." Yoshiki nodded.

"Thank you so much." She wiped away her new formed tears.

"So, it is the Darkening like we suspected, except now it's a sex drug on steroids and with some really unwanted side effects." Yoshiki muttered in disgust.

"Yeah, and what's worse is that it's inside Shinozaki." Satoshi gave her a concerned look.

"Yeah, not good at all, but it's that damn psycho's fault." Yoshiki growled.

"I've been keeping my Holy Water close. Not sure how much that will help but, to be honest I'm terrified." Ayumi looked down at her tea cup. Yoshiki was about to go comfort her when a couple of loud voices outside interrupted them.

"Oh Yome, I can see your panties. Oh they're so cute; I just want to grab them!"

"Ran not now we have to-AHHH!" A loud crash soon followed and Satoshi rolled his eyes while Yoshiki smacked his hand against his forehead.

"I'll go help them out, I need to step out and give the wife a call anyway. Let her know what's going on." Satoshi stood up and made his way to the door.

"Have fun." Yoshiki stated sarcastically.

"Oh yeah."

"Tell Nakashima-San I said hi." Ayumi called out as he opened the front door.

"Will do." Satoshi waved as he shut the door behind him leaving Yoshiki and Ayumi alone in the living room. There was a short moment of silence before Ayumi lifted her tea cup again and began drinking the warm liquid.

"Well so far nothing has happened, so here's hoping I can fight off the Darkening." She took another sip and smiled. "Let's move onto a better topic and not on this for now, I told you all I can, so it can probably be investigated in the morning right?"

Yoshiki nodded. "It's the first thing I plan on doing in the morning."

"Really not a shower or anything?" She giggled.

"Okay the first thing I do involving work." They both shared a laugh and Yoshiki couldn't help but be caught up in her beauty once again. "You look lovely Shinozaki." The words slipped out before his brain could even process it and he felt like slapping his hand over his mouth. He was half expecting to be smacked in the face, a typical reaction from her in high school. But instead she paused for a minute and smiled.

"Thank you Kishinuma-Kun, that's very sweet of you to say. A coworker of mine demanded I buy this outfit when we were out shopping. She's trying to get me to find a man, in her words. It was rather embarrassing at the time." She laughed.

"Well, it looks very pretty on you." He said with a smile.

"I hope you're not flirting with your recent victim Kishinuma."

"Wh-what?! No, I was just giving you a complement." He turned bright red.

"Relax, I'm joking." She laughed. "It's very kind of you to say that, you're quite the handsome man yourself now a days."

His face turned even redder and there was another long pause. "So are you saying I wasn't in high school?" He said trying to get the original color of his face back with humor. She laughed again.

"Hey, now I didn't say that at all, I'm sure a lot of girls had a little crush on you in high school." She took another sip of her tea, unaware that he was currently trying to hide his red face. "Ah, to be in high school again. And actually live like a normal student for the whole experience of high school." She set her empty cup down and there was another short pause before he cleared his throat.

"Hey at least you got us." He shrugged.

"Yup, I do. There is that." She giggled. "Oh, I should probably show you the guest rooms and bathrooms soon. Remind me to do that once Mochida-Kun and the others get back in."

"Got it." He chuckled. "So an illustrator huh? Why don't you show me some of your artwork?"

Her eyes grew wide with delight. "Oh, I would love too." She quickly pulled out a book from under the coffee table and opened it up. "Here's my latest pieces. Come here and take a look, it's rather tedious to reach across the table, I don't want to do something clumsy like knock the tea pot over." She giggled and he nodded with a chuckle getting up and sitting on the couch next to her. She leaned over with the book and pointed to each of her new artwork pieces, he gazed upon the brilliant artistry that was displayed to him, blushing at how close she was to him; she really does have talent.

"This one I made for a nice couple, I drew specters of their parents who had passed away, watching over the couple and the woman is pregnant with their first child. I really thought symbolism played a role in this one. This one was made for the spiritualist Aiko Niwa, I wasn't really fond of her but, a client is a client." She continued on as she pointed to each one, a smile on her face, it was good to see her happy in a situation like this.

"They're all very beautiful and well done, you've always had some great talent. Oh, what's this one?" He pointed to a familiar figure dressed in a Kisaragi school uniform. She grinned at him and playfully punched him in the arm again.

"Haha, you jerk don't be silly, that's a picture of you I drew from high school. Come to think of it, I can draw another picture of you today. Like a then and now thing."

"Relax, I'm joking." He grinned as she laughed again and shoved him.

"You really are a jerk, ya know." She jabbed playfully. "Anyway, here's one of Mochida-Kun too, and Nakashima-San. This is one of Yui-Sensei, Suzumoto-San, Shinohara-San, Morishige-Kun. An adorable picture I drew of Morishige-Kun and Suzumoto-San and a rather silly one of Nakashima-San and Shinohara-San." The first image displayed Mayu clinging to Morishige's arm with a big smile; a small smile was displayed on Morishige as well. The second showed Seiko with a happy smile and a twinkle in her eye as she was grabbing the large breasts of a rather shocked Naomi from behind. She sighed a bit, her smile was tinged with a bit of sorrow, "I always draw them the most so I know I won't ever forget them. Look at all these fond memories; we were so happy back then."

"Well, I haven't drawn them at all and I still remember them. So you're not the only one, but that's truly a great way to remember them fondly." He paused. "We were happy then, but to be honest, I'm more than happy to see you now."

Her bright smile fully returned. "Thank you Kishinuma-Kun. I'm more than happy to see you again too." Her bright, twinkling blue eyes met with his and he returned her smile. She's so gorgeous, he couldn't help himself. He hoped this moment would last for a while but there was another crash outside that interrupted the moment.

"Dammit you two, those cameras are expensive!" Satoshi's voice came from outside, sounding very frustrated.

"My apologies, I don't know what's gotten into her." Azusa's voice was heard after, followed by Ran giggling.

"I just can't help myself around Yome, she's so pretty. Sorry."

Yoshiki exhaled in equal frustration about his moment with his first love in high school being ruined. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be." She brushed it aside. "Oh look, here's a picture of Naho-San."

He frowned, "The picture is nice, but honestly I wasn't too fond of her."

She nodded in understanding, "I can see that, I mean she didn't really live up to my standards in the end as my high school idol and role model. And she did some terrible things, hence why-." She suddenly stopped in mid-sentence and the book fell out of her lap, he caught it and set it on the table and turned to her. She was trembling and appeared to be fading in and out of consciousness.

"Shinozaki! What happened? What's wrong?" He grabbed her shoulders holding her up. "Stay with me now, look at me, I want to see your eyes." He was a bit panicked but, being a cop he didn't really show it, keeping control of the situation that just arose. He was slightly relieved to see she did what he told her to do and turned toward him.

"Oh…. I suddenly…. Feel dizzy and faint….. I feel so cold now." She spoke in a tired manner and collapsed against him, moving closer as if trying to get warmth. His cheeks turned a bit pink but he ignored it as he shook her a little trying to get her to get up.

"Do you need my jacket or your jacket? How about a blanket or hot tea? Stay with me."

"It's okay Kishinuma-Kun. I'm with you." She murmured. "Thank you for your concern for me."

"Sh-Shinozaki. Hey."

"You've always been so strong and protective, especially of me." She buried her face against his chest. "Mmmm… So strong…." His cheeks turned a bright shade of red. Something was extremely off, and he knew exactly what when he felt her hands travel underneath his jacket. "Ohh, that body of yours…. So strong and sexy." He gasped as she ripped open the buttons on his shirt, her hands running across his bare skin. She looked up at him with dark eyes and a big grin, a trickle of saliva coming from the corner of her mouth.

"Sh-Shinozaki…. No, stop this Shinozaki." He grabbed her by the shoulders attempting to push her away, but she had a strong grip on him.

"Why should I Kishinuma-Kun?" She giggled in a disturbingly playful way, not the way that made him smile. "Be honest here, I've seen the way you've been looking at me, ever since you had laid eyes on me in the meeting room. Looking at me hungrily like that, you know you want me and you want this. Admit it." He noticed her snaking her way out of her purple tights and soon kicking them off, her lacy, pink panties were next to slide down her legs, kicking them off as well. He knew in his brain that this had a high chance of ending badly but he couldn't change that due to the situation that the blood from his brain was quickly rushing to his lower extremities as she straddled his hips, pushing him back and pinning him down to the couch. He tried to fight back, knowing he had to end this, but it was no use.

"I…I-Yes I do." He figured he should be honest, trying to ignore the feeling of her hands softly caressing every bit of his torso, but failing miserably. "I can't deny that fact, but not like this Shinozaki. If this were in any other situation I would be loving this right now."

"Don't be coy; you ARE loving this right now. I can tell." She giggled as she leaned closer, running her index finger from his chest to the top of his belt buckle. Moving fast, she quickly undid his belt.

"Shinozaki, think about what you're doing." He whimpered softly, shivering with pleasure as he felt her hot breath against his bare chest.

Her lips softly touched his bare skin making his body tense. "Such a big strong man." He gasped loudly as he felt her suddenly grope him, her soft giggle echoed through his ear. "Really big, you're really packing heat and I'm not talking about your gun there." He bit his lip as he felt her hand stroke the crotch of his pants, his arousal increasing. "I knew that bulge in your pants I noticed in high school wasn't a lie."

"Please, snap out of it." He begged her to control herself and simultaneously, trying to stop his self-control from continuing to grow thin.

She giggled. "What are you talking about? Hmmm, .Ki." She said his name slowly as she unbuttoned his pants. "Mmmm, you're really hard, that's gonna feel nice."

"Shinozaki, please let's talk about this."

"I don't want to talk about anything."

"I… Ah… I just want to talk to you."

"I'm tired of talking." She leaned even closer to him, her lips caressing the nape of his neck. "Let's get busy, detective." With that, she bit down hard into his neck. He struggled to break away but, she had him pinned down good. She was creating the perfect amount of soft suction against his neck, her warm, moist tongue caressing his increasingly sensitive skin. He bit his lip; desperately try to stifle a moan of sheer pleasure.

"_No, no, no, not like this…. Shinozaki.." _Thoughts spun through his head but his mind went blank as he felt her teeth dig into his flesh. A warm, sticky and moist trickle of blood made its way down his neck to his chest. He couldn't hold it back, he cried out, his loud scream echoing through the living room. "Shinozaki! GAH!"

Meanwhile…

"Just be more careful with that equipment okay." Satoshi rubbed his head.

"Yes sir." Azusa bowed.

"Rodger dodge!" Ran saluted.

"We just have this last-." He paused. "What is that?"

"Hmm?" Azusa turned. "Movement!" She gasped.

"Is that a gas mask?" Ran asked peering through the bushes at the rustling. Just then, several men in trench coats and gas masks leapt from the bushes and bolted in several directions.

Satoshi whipped into action grabbing his gun and pointing it at the crowd. "Stop police!" The girls pulled out their firearms and he turned to them. "Check the perimeter!" They nodded and went off in several directions in pursuit of the suspicious figures. Satoshi bolted after them as well, soon catching up to one. He grabbed the masked figure and slammed him down to the ground, holstering his gun and pinning him down.

"Why did you run?"

"None of your fucking business pig!" The man spat through the mask, Satoshi slammed his head against the ground.

"Not the answer I was looking for."

"That blond one you got with ya is hot. Wonder what she'd be like on Magic?"

"So, it is what I thought."

"Clear!" Azusa yealled running toward him.

"Clear!" Ran's voice called out. "Dammit, they got away!"

"I got one right here!" The two girls bolted up to him just as a loud scream echoed from the house, he couldn't tell if it was of pleasure or pain. "Yoshiki?!"

"Sounds like you're friends having a good time." The masked man turned to Azusa. "What's up baby?"

"Save your breath worm!" She scoffed.

"Don't you dare talk to Yome like that!" Ran hissed.

"Dammit!" Satoshi muttered getting up. "Keep an eye on him." They nodded and he ran back to the house as fast as he could.

Meanwhile…

Satoshi burst through the door only to find Ayumi looking up at him with possessed eyes, a small trickle of a mixture of saliva and blood traveled down her chin. Yoshiki pinned beneath her and while she was distracted, he struggled out beneath her and ran over to his friends' side. Both looked disheveled.

"Shinozaki….. Calm down." He turned to Yoshiki. "How you holding up?"

"Fine, I didn't let it get far."

"Your neck is bleeding."

"I'll be fine."

She began tip toing over to them, black mist rising from her body looking at each one of them before grinning widely at Yoshiki and bolting as fast as lightning toward him.

"Shinozaki!" Both of them shouted as Ayumi pounced on the blond detective. He struggled trying to push her away once again as she began licking at the wound on his neck.

"Mmmm, your blood tastes Heavenly, Yoshiki." She moaned. He didn't understand this, now Satoshi was in the room. Why would she go after him again instead of her high school crush, it didn't make sense, but he couldn't think about that much at the moment.

"Yoshiki!" Satoshi tried to intervene but, Yoshiki stopped him and pulled Ayumi into a soft embrace.

"Please, stop this Shinozaki. Snap out of it and come back to us. You don't want to do this, I know and you know it. Just please, be the same Ayumi Shinozaki we always knew." There was a long pause before there was a rather distant whimper.

"So…. Warm…. Where?... Kishinuma-Kun?"

"Shinozaki! You're back!" He gasped, noticing Satoshi's body also relax.

"Ah!" She blushed jumping from his arms. "D-did I?... Oh my God, your neck Kishinuma-Kun. Did I do that? I….. I'm so sorry." She began to tear up.

"It's okay, it's over now, you're safe." He reassured the girl.

"Uh, Yoshiki." Satoshi pointed at her bare legs which were dripping black ooze onto the floor. She gasped loudly trying to shake it off.

"Hold on." Yoshiki pulled out a plastic baggy and held it against her leg, filling it up with the ooze.

"I'll call Naomi over here she's a nurse." Yoshiki nodded to his friend who flipped open his phone as Ayumi sprinkled Holy water on it. Yoshiki flipped open his own phone and took pictures for evidence. He winced a little at the pain in his neck as Satoshi closed his phone.

"Naomi is on her way. Man that must hurt." Satoshi pointed at his neck.

"I'm sorry it's my fault." Ayumi trembled.

"It's definitely not your fault, don't say that. I'll be alright, it doesn't hurt that much." He assured her and she nodded, wiping her tears.

"At least not as much as your blue balls will." Satoshi smirked and pointed at him.

"Oh, oh my." Ayumi turned away from Yoshiki, her face bright red. He looked down and blushed himself, frowning angrily as he grabbed a pillow that fell to the floor and held it in front of himself.

"Why did you have to point that out?" Satoshi laughed at the whole spectacle.

Moments later…

Naomi hovered over Yoshiki dressed in full scrubs as she finished bandaging his wound. "All better now. It's good to see you Kishinuma-Kun though not under the best circumstances."

"Thanks Nakashima." He smiled weakly, showing his appreciation. She smiled back and turned to Ayumi.

"You too, class rep." Ayumi laughed lightly.

"We aren't in high school any more, no need to call me that."

"Sorry, I'm just used to it." Naomi laughed; she hadn't changed much since high school either. "So explain to me how Kishinuma got injured and why two female officers are standing in the class reps living room with a tied up guy wearing a gas mask."

Satoshi sighed. "You may want to sit down for this hun, it's a long story."

"You know I love stories." She giggled.

Yoshiki handed Azusa the bag of evidence and emailed the pictures to her phone. "Here, take this down to evidence. I'm sending you the pictures right now. Nakashima is here and she's a woman that can handle the situation, trust me. We'll take care of him." He glanced down at the incapacitated suspect.

"Of course, come on Ran."

"Okay, Yome and Boss."

"Boss huh, guess that's better." Yoshiki shrugged.

Neither noticed a curious Naomi walking over. "What pictures?" She then caught a glimpse of the dark liquid running down Ayumi's legs and the bag. Her eyes grew wide in terror and her jaw dropped. "No…"

"Naomi…. Honey." Satoshi began approaching his wife in a panic as she collapsed to the ground, gripping her head, a loud cry escaping her lips as tears fell down her cheeks.

"Nakashima-San!" Ayumi and Yoshiki cried out in unison. The girls looked onward in worry.

"Seiko…. Seiko…"

**End**

((What will happen next? All questions will be answered in more chapters to come, stay posted.))


	2. Kidnapping

**Ch 2: Kidnapping**

Yoshiki came back from the outside, dragging the bound and rather beaten suspect behind him and throwing him face first onto the floor. "What I got is he's just a druggy that was paid to work for that doctor. He, along with the rest of that group was attempting to sneak in here and slip the Darkening in food, drinks, whatever they could."

"Is that what you call it?" Yoshiki slammed his foot down on the back of his head, pushing his face into the floor.

"That must be some good carpet." The blond detective spoke nonchalantly as he folded his arms. Ayumi jumped up and waved her arms.

"Kishinuma-Kun, please don't get blood on my floor." His eyes went wide and he removed his foot rubbing the back of his head as the guy's ragged breath echoed through the house, his bruised face red from lack of oxygen.

"Sorry Shinozaki, my bad."

"By the looks of it, you hit him a couple of times, didn't you?" Satoshi pointed at the suspect's battered face. Yoshiki smirked letting out a soft chuckle.

"Hehheh, sort of. I'd say more than a couple."

"That doesn't really make sense though. I know why he would want to get more if that gunk into me, but wouldn't he want to watch his results?" Ayumi pondered out loud.

"Well, there weren't any hidden cameras on you so he must've been there among that group, to see it with his own eyes." Yoshiki shrugged. "And drugging your food and shit was just a ruse. It's the only logical explanation."

"I saw many of them hovering by the windows, though when they spotted me they bolted in different directions." Azusa nodded, sitting down on the couch after a long trip to the evidence department.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Ayumi paused. "Wait Kishinuma-Kun, how did you know there weren't any hidden cameras on me?"

"I'm trained to notice these things for one, also….." He trailed off, a pink tint across his cheeks. "You were close enough for me to notice these things."

Her eyes went wide and a rosy tint flashed across her face as well. "Oh…. Right."

The suspect made several attempts to make a comment but immediately shut his mouth whenever Yoshiki looked down at him with a smirk and cracked his knuckles. From the looks of it, he must have done a number on the guy. "Alright, that's enough for now." He said lifting the suspect up with a chuckle. "Lady's, you may take him into custody. There's a cell waiting for him."

Ran shot up, folding her arms in a huff. "Aw c'mon. We just got back."

"Now, that's an order from your superior, no complaints."

She sighed. "Yeah, I know. But after this, we just really need a rest."

Yoshiki nodded in agreement, "I understand, it's been a rough night."

"Don't worry Ran. The faster we get it done, the faster we can rest." Azusa grabbed the suspect by the handcuffs and smiled at her companion.

"You're right Yome!" Ran skipped over and the two exited with their suspect.

"It's weird; I have a feeling like I know them somewhere, wonder if we've met before." Ayumi rubbed her chin.

Yoshiki shugged again. "Maybe, it is possible."

"You okay honey?" Satoshi turned to his wife and rubbed her back softly. She was busily wiping away her tears.

"Yeah, I'm a bit better now." She sniffled. "That just, brought up some bad memories."

"I understand." Her husband nodded pulling her into an embrace. There was a short pause as Ayumi and Yoshiki's eyes met, a red tint appeared on both their faces and Ayumi quickly broke the gaze.

"Y-You're bleeding again, Kishinuma-Kun."

"Oh." Naomi looked up. "I'll redress the wound." She quickly rushed over as Yoshiki scratched his chin nervously.

"Thanks, I didn't notice."

"You should probably remove your shirt; you don't want to stain it." His shirt was still unbuttoned and disheveled from earlier. He didn't worry much about it.

"I'll keep that in mind Nakashima." Just then, Satoshi appeared behind his wife with an odd grin.

"Honey, why would you ask Yoshiki to strip down? You aren't thinking of cheating on me right?"

"Satoshi!" She gasped. "I just don't want him to stain his shirt."

"What is wrong with you?" Yoshiki sighed.

"I kid, I kid." He laughed.

"It's getting late." Ayumi closed her living room curtains after glancing out at the night sky. "I should show you to your rooms. Nakashima-San, will you be staying over too."

"Oh I can't, I need to get home and clean up the house. Also, I shouldn't bother my husband more than I have to when he's on the job." Naomi bowed. "Thank you for the offer though."

Ayumi smiled. "Alright, I was just wondering, I understand."

Naomi said her goodbyes to her significant other and then took her leave. Ayumi had been glad to see her again, despite the circumstances. It was great to see all her old friends from high school, well mostly all of them. She sighed as she set down another cup of tea she was drinking.

"Something wrong?" Yoshiki asked sitting down next to her.

"Yeah, it's just. This whole thing is bringing up painful memories as well."

"It is for all of us, but we're here for you."

She turned and smiled at him. "Thanks Kishinuma-Kun."

His blush returned. "Yeah, of course."

"Alright, they're back." Satoshi opened the door allowing Azusa and Ran to come inside.

"Whew, I'm pooped!" Ran called out, stretching as she entered.

"Guess that means I'll be able to show you to your rooms." Ayumi stood up. "I only have three though, so two of you will have to share a bed."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAH! I can share a bed with Yome! Oh, it's a dream come true!" Ran squealed.

"It appears that Ran has volunteered for us to share a bed. I don't mind." Azusa smiled.

"Well, that was settled quickly." Ayumi giggled. "Follow me."

Ran bounced on the king size bed and immediately crawled under the covers once Ayumi showed them their room. Azusa calmly walked in and bowed, "Thank you Shinozaki-San."

"No problem." Ayumi smiled and turned to Satoshi opening another door to their right. "And here's your room Mochida-Kun."

"Thanks Shinozaki." Satoshi said with a grin as he walked over and looked out the window. "This will do nicely." Ayumi nodded and let him be, closing the door. She then gestured for Yoshiki to follow her down the hall, and stopped by the door on her left.

"This is your room Kishinuma-Kun." She opened the door, allowing him to enter. He looked around stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Thanks."

"And the bathroom is right next door, I have a medicine cabinet in there that has items you can use to treat your wound." She paused. "Again, I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be and thank you for your consideration." He chuckled, making her blush slightly. He then turned to the bed and took off his shirt, looking at the bandaged wound more closely in the mirror across from him and making her face turn bright red. As her eyes drank in his appearance her jaw dropped. He's buff and well built like a person in his job status should be. The muscle tone on his body is perfect, his whole body is perfect, like one of those models you see on television. She stopped herself, astonished that she was drooling over an old friend of hers like some kind of perverted voyeur. She looked down at the floor as he turned to her, running his fingers through his blond hair as he set his gun on the bed as well. "Shinozaki, are you alright."

"Uh-Yeah. Yeah, I just didn't realize you were going to change. Sorry."

"No need to apologize, Nakashima did say I shouldn't get blood stains on my shirt."

"I'm so sorry."

"Hey, stop it with your apologies." He laughed resting his hands on her shoulders. "It's okay."

She sighed, looking upon his amazing form. Maybe it was that powerful aphrodisiac that still had control over her mind, she thought as she felt herself become physically warm. She shook the thought from her mind and looked up at him with a smile. "I just feel bad about the whole thing. But, I guess you have a point. You can protect yourself being such a big, strong man." She swallowed hard as his eyes went wide.

"Um Shinozaki. When you were taken over by the Darkening, did you mean what you said?"

"I'm not sure, I don't even know why I um, went for you." She turned several shades of red as did Yoshiki.

"Well, I'm not sure either." He paused. "I thought since Satoshi was your high school crush."

"Well, that was long ago." She nervously shifted and he glanced at the floor.

"Yeah I guess you have a point." He cleared his throat then smiled. "Anyway, it's been a long day. The two of us should get some sleep, if you need any of us just give us a knock or holler. We'll come to your aid."

She smiled happily and pulled him into a hug, the feel of his strong frame as good as it looks. She felt him tense as she hugged him; it was the only way she could think of to appropriately satisfy those lingering urges from the aphrodisiac in her system. "Thanks Kishinuma-Kun, I'll make sure to give everyone a hug the next morning, until then, good night." He smiled back as she released him from the embrace.

"Yeah, good night Shinozaki." She left the room thinking to herself about how the Darkening and an aphrodisiac should not be mixed as she looked down at her vile of Holy water. She opened the door to her room and got ready for bed and as she pulled the covers over her, she smiled feeling safe in the knowledge that she had friends here to protect her.

The Next Morning…

"What Shinozaki said about what that doctor told her, is it just me or does something not add up?" Satoshi stretched his arms as he joined Yoshiki by the window and gazed out at the foggy morning.

Yoshiki nodded, turning away from the window and grabbing his gun from the dresser next to his bed. He checked his ammo and set it back down.

"I mean, last time I checked, the Darkening doesn't have the ability to physically lift people like a malevolent spirit." Satoshi folded his arms.

"You're right about that. Also, we've never got any reports about Miss Hasegawa's death. You would think someone jumping in front of a train would make the news." Yoshiki flopped down on the bed, "It's a good thing I made that call."

"You made a call?" Satoshi rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Yeah, according to the hospital staff, there's an eyewitness to the events involving Dr. Amagasaki and his patient Hasegawa." Yoshiki sat up. "We're talking to him today, but we should be easy, he's only a kid."

Satoshi lowered his head but, nodded in agreement. "Got it, man you like to get right on things. But in this case, it's understandable."

"Yeah, Shinozaki doesn't need to be caught up in this shit any longer."

"Now, we have to find a way to get the Book of Shadows back." Satoshi rubbed his chin. "Dr. Kasemura's house might have some clues that could lead us to where it is and possibly where he is too. If the doctor's smart, he wouldn't be at his own house where he can easily be found."

"You're right about that too." Yoshiki rose to his feet again. "That drug addict told me something to that affect. He's hiding out somewhere, so we better get our work started."

"Right, I'll call the lab in a bit and see what they've found. We've never seen the Darkening from a scientific perspective." Satoshi made his way to the door, about to head back to his room before his friend stopped him.

"Oh hey Satoshi, since you're up at the butt crack of dawn like me?" Both shared a laugh at this.

"Heh, yeah what?"

"Mind if I use the bath first? Since you're gonna be making some phone calls and it's closets to my room."

"Go for it, I'm kinda nervous about it. Using a girl's bathroom is a little nerve racking."

"… You have a wife."

"Yeah, it was nerve racking sharing a bathroom with Naomi the first time too."

"Well then you should know what it's like." Yoshiki laughed as he closed the door behind them, "And make sure you get dressed." He said making his way to the bathroom, "You don't want to be inappropriate and let a girl see you in your boxers."

"But I feel so free, and besides you're not fully clothed."

"I'm going to be bathing myself, that's why I'm only wearing jeans."

"Whatever." Satoshi bolted down the hall back to his room shouting, "I'm free!" making Yoshiki chuckle at his good friends' foolishness. Azusa, dressed in pink tank and panties with a little pink night cap on stumbled out of her room rubbing her eyes.

"What's going on?" Azusa's face turned red as she spotted her half naked superior at the bathroom door, looking back at her. "Oh, Kinght-Kun. I….. Didn't realize…. G-Good morning." She nervously ran her fingers through her long blond hair. He nodded to her in response.

"Good morning officer, should you be wearing pajamas like that in this type of cold weather?" She turned a darker shade of red and hid herself behind the door.

"Well, yeah… I'm not really affected that much by the cold."

"I see." He looked over and noticed Ayumi's door was cracked a jar. He peered in and saw her sleeping soundly in bed. She snored softly; it was almost inaudible, yet still as adorable as the sight of her sleeping in general. He couldn't help but smile at this moment, she looks so cute. He then turned and opened the door and stepped inside only to hear rustling from the next door over followed by a couple of yawns.

"Kishinuma-Kun?" He heard a familiar and groggy voice from the other side of the bathroom door.

"Good Morning Shinozaki."

"You going to use the bath?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, towels are on the top shelf above the sink."

"Alright."

He heard her pitter patter away from the door then looked to his left. A nice and oddly decorative toilet sat to his left and to his right there was a sink, with a medicine cabinet which doubled as a mirror and a couple of shelves above it, one of which contained various colored towels and washcloths. He grabbed one of each, both were red, probably to decipher whose towel is whose when she has guests. There was a purple towel on a separate shelf; he figured it was probably hers. He then turned and opened the door to the bath area and took off his black jeans from the other day, setting aside a pair of blue jeans he got from his office before coming down to Ayumi's home. He didn't intend to have a large bath so he ignored the large bath area and bath stool and went straight for the shower nozzle. He looked around, it's a nice traditional Japanese bath, lavender tile and very girly, but it was still a nice look as it contrasted with the pure white bath and its fixtures. He turned the nob on the showerhead and allowed the water to stream onto his body.

"Ah! Hot." He adjusted the temperature after being shocked with a rush of scalding water and noticed that it was one of those showerheads that has various therapeutic massaging settings. "Oh this is gonna be great for my back." He sighed with a smile and using the settings to his luxuries. "That feels much better. My muscles have been so sore lately." He looked to his right and saw she was well stocked on body wash and shampoo. He took a closer look, "Lavender and vanilla? Coconut milk? Well, whatever gets me clean."

"Have you found the towels?"

He jumped at the sound of Ayumi's voice, only muffled by the sound of running water and the doors between them. "Yes, I took the red one."

"Alright, I just forgot to mention that the purple one is mine but I see I don't need too. Sorry, to bother you."

"No problem." He once again heard her walk away and breathed a sigh of relief, feeling able to relax again.

Meanwhile…

She walked back to her room, clad in a black sweatshirt and red plaid pajama pants and sat down in front of Ran, who was dressed in lime green pajamas. "Yome went back to her room to brush her hair; this is fun like a slumber party." Ran giggled.

"Y-Yeah." Ayumi smiled at the girl as Azusa entered the room again.

"What are you on about Ran?"

"Oh, we should play truth or dare. I dare Yome to kiss me." Ran puckered up only to have Azusa giggle at the behavior and brush it aside.

"Would you like us to prepare breakfast for you Shinozaki-San?"

"Thank you, but you're my guests. I wouldn't want you to do that. I'll be making breakfast once everyone's ready. Oh, if you two would like to wash up there is a bath downstairs too." Ayumi offered.

"Thank you Shinozaki-San. I would like to get myself cleaned up."

"Oh, how about I join you Yome?" Ran looked at Azusa with excited eyes and a line of drool coming from her mouth.

"I wouldn't mind. We're both girls Ran." Azusa smiled. "Why don't you join us Shinozaki-San."

"I guess that's fine. It's built for more than one." Ayumi shrugged.

"And yours is occupied." Ran pointed out as they exited the room. As they were about to make their way down the hall the bathroom door swung open and Yoshiki stepped out, clad in only a pair of light blue jeans.

"Hey, bathroom's free." Was all he said as he turned around and made his way back toward his room. Ayumi nodded and yawned spacing out a bit as her eyes focused on him walking toward his room, though as soon as he was out of sight she jumped a bit at the sound of Ran and Azusa giggling.

"I noticed you looking Shinozaki-San." Azusa poked her in the side.

"Huh, what? I wasn't paying attention." Ayumi rubbed her eye groggily.

"You were totally staring at his ass. Admit it; you were ogling him like a horny schoolgirl." Ran giggled.

"Wh-What?! No! No I wasn't! I was just spacing out. I swear!" Was she? No, Ayumi was sure she wasn't. However she couldn't help but question.

"I must admit." Azusa toyed with her hair. "I understand, he is very attractive, I've been interested in him for a while. Though he doesn't seem to share the same feelings for me, we dated once but it didn't last."

"Now, he's caught someone else's attention. Which means Yome's all mine!" Ran bounced with glee as Azusa giggled. Ayumi's brow furrowed, maybe last night it was different because of the aphrodisiac but now she was vehemently denying anything to the latter of that.

"I was not checking him out!" She demanded her face turning red.

"Sure you weren't." Ran said sarcastically.

"Oh Shinozaki-San." Azusa giggled.

"Look the bathroom's free, let's just use the bath." Ayumi tried to change the subject.

"Aw, you were going to use the bathroom." They were interrupted by a familiar voice behind them. Ayumi turned to see Satoshi clad in his boxer shorts, interestingly she didn't really feel anything when she saw him. It seems that she really was over her high school crush, though maybe it was that when you see one half-naked man you see them all. However, Satoshi was noticeably scrawnier compared to Yoshiki's buff and fit form. Was she really ogling Yoshiki like a horny school girl? No, she quickly got her mind off that.

"Um, Mochida-Kun should you really be running around in nothing but your underwear?" Ayumi asked him as the girls behind her giggled softly. He gave her a confused glance then looked down and screamed. "There's a bath downstairs by the way."

"Thank you!" With a red face, Satoshi bolted in the other direction.

"Wait, do you want me to show it to you?" She called after him.

"I'll find it Shinozaki." He shouted back. "Don't even worry about it."

She sighed and smiled. "He really hasn't changed, neither of them have. Alright, bathroom's open girls." She smiled at the two.

"If only it was Knight-Kun going with you to the bath." Ran giggled.

"Ran." Azusa joined her, making Ayumi frowned.

"Stop, there's nothing like that!"

Moments later…

"You look lovely Shinozaki-San." Azusa smiled at Ayumi as she emerged from her room in a white shirt with a black cardigan, a black mid-thigh length skirt and black tights.

"Thank you, I'm going to a meeting today about my illustrations being used in a book."

"You look very professional."

"I try my best, it is an important meeting. You kinda look like one of those assassins in the movies." Ayumi giggled noticing that Azusa was dress in a black beanie, sweater and black skinny jeans.

"Well, this was the only change of clothes I had." She giggled.

"I didn't mean anything by it. It looks good on you."

Ran emerged in a white sweater with a plum colored shirt over it and light blue skinny jeans. "Wow, you look so smart! Important stuff happening today?"

Ayumi nodded, "Meeting, I thought you two would actually be in your uniforms again."

"If we're accompanying you out in public, we must be plain clothed officers." Azusa explained.

"Besides, we won't have to wears those uniforms period, after our training." Ran jumped enthusiastically.

"Ah, I see, so what about Kishinuma-Kun and Mochida-Kun?"

"They will be busy following up leads on this investigation." Azusa rested a hand on her shoulder. "And the house is monitored by cameras, so if something like last night happens again we'll catch the actions on video."

"Oh okay." She smiled. "Thank you, both of you."

"No need to thank us." Azusa brushed it aside.

"It's our pleasure!" Ran chimed in. "Side note, I'm starving."

"Me too." Ayumi nodded. "I'll get breakfast started."

Earlier…

Yoshiki threw on a red long sleeved shirt and his black jacket and holstered his gun and badge. He left his room and headed toward the stairs but paused as Satoshi emerged from his room dressed in blue jeans and a white tee-shirt. He tossed a brown jacket over his shoulders and yawn adjusting it over his body.

"Glad to see you're dressed." Yoshiki stuffed his hands in his pocket.

"Don't make fun of me; my wife put this change of clothes in my office locker."

"Wasn't my intention, I'm just glad to see you're fully clothed."

"Not before the girls saw me in my boxers. I just wanted to be free, you understand right?" Satoshi chuckled a bit.

"Sure." Yoshiki raised an eyebrow and smirked sarcastically. "Told you though."

Moments later…

"That was delicious Shinozaki, thank you for the food." Yoshiki rose to his feet glancing at his watch, then at her smiling face, as always, she's looks beautiful. "Unfortunately, we have an interview to get to and a lot of questions that need answers."

"Not my wife's cooking, but pretty good." Satoshi gave a thumbs up as he got up too.

"Thanks you two, I hope we can get this all squared away soon. I'm sorry I had to drag you into this. It's my curse to bear after all." She lowered her head making Yoshiki wince again at the sight of such a pretty face looking so sad.

"Despite your family lineage Shinozaki, it's not always something you should have to deal with alone." Yoshiki assured her.

"In fact, leave it to us. You shouldn't worry about it. As far as we're concerned, you have nothing to bear." Satoshi smiled and rested his hands on his hips.

"Tch." Yoshiki frowned in slight irritation at Satoshi stealing his moment with her in trying to cheer her up.

Ayumi sighed, "Okay, just be careful."

"I can say the same for you." Yoshiki turned to his subordinates who were still busily eating. "You girls keep a good watch over her."

"Of course." Azusa smiled in assurance.

"Mmhmm." Ran nodded mouth full of food.

With that, the two detectives walked over to the front door, put their shoes on and made their exit, grabbing their warm coats off the hanger.

Later that day…

Azusa waited, checking the camera feed on her phone, in front of the large meeting room in the high class publishing building that they had escorted Ayumi to. Ran was running around like a child, looking at and taking in everything. "Wow, fancy." Ran gasped.

"Ran, calm down, Shinozaki-San is very busy." Azusa shushed her companion as the door to the meeting room opened.

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you Miss Shinozaki. You're artistic talents are well appreciated." A wealthy looking businessman came out vigorously shaking Ayumi's hand, following her were a group of other wealthy businessmen and women. "We should all do lunch sometime. My treat!" The man cried out, laughter echoing the halls soon after. Ayumi said her goodbyes and broke away from the group, meeting up with Azusa and Ran.

"That man is the worst." She whispered. "I can't tell you how many times he's tried to hit on me. Do you know how hard it is to turn down a creepy old man rich enough to sue you if you shoot down a dinner date with him?"

"I see. Seems rough." Azusa sympathized.

"It's alright; I have been turning him off of me by subtly reminding him that he has a wife." Ayumi giggled.

"Dirty old man." Ran huffed and Azusa nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, let's get back. I'll make some warm coco for us." Ayumi grinned.

"Yum!" Ran cheered.

Once the three girls got back, they found Yoshiki and Satoshi sitting around the coffee table. Ayumi paused and tilted her head at the sight of them. "How did it go?"

"Well, we made a breakthrough." Yoshiki sighed.

"And we know where we have to go next." Satoshi muttered. "The doctors' house. The department gave us the address. We'll be leaving soon."

"Wait, tell me what happened." Ayumi ran and sat down next to them. In fact, without a second thought, she sat next to Yoshiki.

"We intend to." Yoshiki stretched and leaned back. "It turns out that doctor of yours is bullshitting you on most of the story. Kaori Hasegawa is alive, or so we think."

"What? Oh, thank God." Ayumi gasped.

"Yeah, except we don't know where she is." Satoshi rested his head in his hands.

"Oh." Ayumi sighed; kicking off her black heals which she forgot to take off before she ran in.

"Does this have to do with Heavenly Host by the way?" Azusa asked inquisitively. "The stuff that we gave to evidence looks like stuff we've seen in there."

"Wait! That's where I remember you!" Ayumi jumped. "Kishinuma-Kun and I met you there. Good to see you're survivors too."

Ran and Azusa nodded as Yoshiki sat up inquisitively looking at them. "Come to think of it, yeah that's right, how could I forget that?"

"I don't remember anything like that." Satoshi mumbled.

"You weren't there at the time. It was just me and Shinozaki." Yoshiki pointed out.

"Oh I see, well back on subject." Satoshi leaned forward. "Yeah it has a little to do with Heavenly Host since that stuff is the Darkening, nothing from evidence by the way, results are inconclusive."

"Figures." Yoshiki sighed. "Probably can't determine what it is, being that it's a substance from another dimension. But, everything is made of some type of matter."

"Yeah, it's just hard to determine what since the matter is of another dimension." Satoshi sighed. "Anyway, it also turns out Hasegawa is a possible survivor of Heavenly Host too. Though the person we've talked to is not sure how she made it back." He paused for a bit. "He explained he swore he saw her die before he was transported back, but years after that, she was back too but she was quite different according to him. Like some type of ghostly revenant that seemed quite tangible."

Ayumi perked up. "Really? It's great to know that there are others, that place took countless lives." Ayumi paused then. "However, she could also be a revenant that was transported here from Heavenly Host. In my research back when I was trying to put an end to the curse, I've stumbled upon an incident where a spirit accompanied and even protected survivors on their journey to Heavenly Host. Since the doctor used the Book of Shadows spell which breaks through other dimensions, the rift he probably opened was to Heavenly Host and a spirit connected to one of the party there must have done the reverse, though I tried to shut that place off as best I can, so it didn't cause a major disturbance."

"But how do we know that story is even true?" Yoshiki turned to her. "He's lied before."

Ayumi shrugged. "Maybe it's his way of logically explaining to himself why she's possibly dead and a 'tangible' ghost. There is only one way to find out though." She sighed, "I'll have to go back to Makina's house."

"What do you mean 'you'll have to'?" Yoshiki rested his hands on her shoulders. "Satoshi and I will worry about that."

"But…" She tried to explain before Yoshiki put his finger to her lips. "I don't want you to suffer because of this any longer."

Everyone in the party nodded in agreement at this. "Now, about the interview…" the two detectives went on to explain the events that took place with them today.

Hours earlier…

Yoshiki and Satoshi walked through the doors of their department and made their way to their offices.

"Good Morning, Detective Kishinuma!" Miss Shueda's voice rang out. He gave a slight wave to her and continued to his office while Satoshi stopped in front of her with a fake pout.

"Where's my good morning?"

"Oh, good morning to you too Detective Mochida."

"That's better." Satoshi grinned.

"Oh Miki, what are you doing here?" Yoshiki asked as he approached his office.

"Hey big brother, I heard you were staying with a victim so I brought you another change of clothes since it looks like you've used the last ones I brought." His younger sister handed him a pair of clothes.

"Thanks. I'll put them in my office for now."

"No problem. Just be careful out there. Later big bro." She twirled her jet black hair and skipped off. Yoshiki sighed, knowing full well that she was the only person who looked out for him and still continues to today.

"That's sweet." Satoshi approached him, the busty secretary following closely behind.

"She's a good kid." Yoshiki shrugged with a smile.

"She's a grown woman now."

"She's still a kid to me."

"Oh Detective Mochida, your wife left you a change of clothes too." Miss Shueda bowed.

"Ah, that's my Naomi; I got to put them in my office too. Then we gotta go, we're only here to check in with the director." Satoshi smiled.

"We only got a half hour to get there; this is a busy case so let's get moving." Yoshiki pushed his friend along.

"Oh, so you're both very busy with a case." Miss Shueda halted them. "So you won't be available tonight then right, Detective Kishinuma?"

"Afraid not." He answered frankly.

"I see well." She perked up a bit. "Take care you two. Bye now." With that she quickly took her leave.

The two detectives arrived at the psychiatric ward of the hospital and showed their badges at the front desk, the woman behind the desk had a nurse quickly escort them to the patients' room; the boy that was very close to Kaori Hasegawa and an eyewitness to the events between her and Dr. Amagasaki and supposedly to his murder. They each took a seat in the visitors chair provided for them.

"So your name is Seita?" Satoshi asked the light brunette boy sitting quietly on his bed, who nodded in response.

"It's nice to meet you." Satoshi smiled warmly at him. "I'm Detective Mochida and this is Detective Kishinuma."

"Nice to meet you too." He looked up slightly, his brown eyes worried.

"I know this must be tough for you, but we'd like to ask you a couple questions. Is that alright?" The boy slowly turned to Yoshiki and nodded in response.

"Do you have any idea or maybe a clue of any kind as to the whereabouts or the state of Kaori Hasegawa?" Seita's eyes filled with tears at Yoshiki's question and the blond detective gave him a sympathetic look. "It's alright, take your time. If you need to just let it out."

Seita sniffled a bit and rubbed his eyes vigorously. "I got some tissues on me, here." Satoshi offered the boy a tissue and he accepted them with a soft 'thank you' then shook his head.

"I haven't seen Kaori-sis at all. Not since she was taken away by that other doctor in his car. Do you think she's alright, will she come back?"

"Well, I'm not sure if she's completely fine but we will get her back, don't worry. Now, who's the other doctor?" Yoshiki asked. "What's his name? Maybe we can find out where this doctor has taken her if we knew more about him."

"I think his name is Saito Kasemura." The boy blew his nose and Yoshiki nodded.

"Was Dr. Amagasaki with them?"

"He was already dead." Seita sniffled.

"I see." Yoshiki paused for a moment, knowing he probably wasn't going to get much about Dr. Kasemura at the moment, but that's why they were going over to his house after the interview. "Tell us what happened on the day that Hasegawa went missing and Dr. Amagasaki was killed."

"Well." The boy began as he wiped his tears. "I went to visit Kaori-sis like I usually do and asked her if she could tell me a story. She always has the best stories." More tears began to fill his eyes. "I… I'm sorry."

"It's quite alright, no need to be sorry." Yoshiki turned to his friend. "Do you have another tissue for him?"

"No, that's fine." Seita blew his nose again. "I don't need another."

"Alright, can you continue or would you like a break?" The boy looked so sullen that Yoshiki couldn't help but ask.

"N-no. I'm alright."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Seita paused to gather himself. "Anyway, when I left Kaori-sis room I saw Dr. Amagasaki go in after me. He had a vile of pitch black liquid I remember, it looked disgusting and I got a bad feeling right then and there. Then I heard yelling in there, it turned into screaming and I got scared. As soon as I heard crashing and Kaori-sis calling for help, I ran off to look for some nurses."

"I see. What about the black liquid made you feel uneasy to begin with?" The boy looked Yoshiki straight in the eyes and trembled.

"I just hated it. It was…. Dark." Seita paused as the two detectives nodded. "When I came back with the nurses, two doctors had followed; one of them was Doctor Kasemura. As we opened the door we saw Kaori-sis huddled in a corner and Dr. Amagasaki was gone. Dr. Kasemura said he would look for him."

"Do you know where he went?" The boy shook his head.

"Not at that time, but a little after that, I saw him leaving with Dr. Kasemura." He paused and shivered a bit. "That's when things got weird."

Yoshiki raised an eyebrow. "Weird? How so?"

"Well, when I was watching them leave I heard them mention something about Kishi station. Then I heard Kaori-sis voice and I turned to see her standing next to me. It kinda surprised me, and there was definitely something wrong with her."

"What did she say? Did what she said lead you to believe something was wrong?"

"She just said 'Kishi station' really slowly. And it wasn't just that, her eyes looked blank and evil and there was a sort of dark aura hanging over her. Like a black mist escaping her body." Seita paused. "I asked her what she was doing but she ignored me and walked to the front doors."

"What did you do then?"

He shrugged sadly, "I followed her, even when we left the building and the alarms were going off, she ignored it. I was scared of what might happen to her so I just continued to follow her. But, we were escapees now."

"Where did she go and how long did you follow her?"

"All the way to the station and onto the train, I sat next to her and asked her questions like, 'what's going on?' and 'is everything okay?' and stuff like that. She ignored me still, then the train stopped and she got off, I followed her then too. I wasn't sure how we even made it to the train station without getting caught but, I kept checking to see if we were being followed by the hospital staff, still no one."

"Where'd she go next?"

"I followed her around a really rural like area; it was like a small community. Then we went off into an open field and got pretty far out of any contact with anyone. She suddenly stopped and made an odd hissing noise and was looking at something directly ahead. I peeked out from behind her and saw Dr. Kasemura standing next to his car and pointing a gun at Dr. Amagasaki who was standing a distance away from him. They were yelling at each other. So terrified, I fled Kaori-sis's side and hid behind a boulder. Only peeking out behind it to see what was going on. They didn't notice me so I felt safe then."

"What did happen next?"

"Kaori-sis giggled like a little school girl or somethin' and the yelling stopped. Dr. Kasemura lowered his gun when he saw her and Dr. Amagasaki had this weird smile when he saw her. Then she went running up to Dr. Amagasaki and did something gross."

"Something gross?"

"Yeah, she started kissing him and stuff. It was all icky; I had no clue why she would be kissing a creep like that. Although, I didn't know why Dr. Kasemura had a gun pointed at him in the first place. And then, Dr. Kasemura said something like 'Take that somewhere else if you want to get your rocks off' or somethin'. Whatever that means, it's like they're both creeps." He made a sick face and wiped away another tear.

"Do you know what the two doctors were yelling about in the first place?"

"Somthin' like 'You shouldn't have done that, the whole experiment is compromised!' and then Dr. Amagasaki was telling Dr. Kasemura to relax and stuff. Then they saw Kaori-sis and she started mackin' on Dr. Amagasaki."

"Okay, you're doing well." Yoshiki assured seeing the boy tear up, "Can you continue?"

Seita nodded and in a little whimper he said, "Then things got much worse."

"How so?" Yoshiki spoke softly.

"She just started ripping Dr. Amagasaki apart, limb from limb, tearing him to pieces. He screamed a lot and Dr. Kasemura shouted bad words and dropped his gun, covering his face when a huge splash of blood hit him in the face. Once she tore Dr. Amagasaki's limbs off she ripped out is intestines, the look on his dead face." The boy shivered as tears fell from his cheeks. "She was laughing like a maniac, then she practically squeezed his neck to the point where his head popped off and threw the rest of him up in the air and twirled around as all this blood came raining down. It was like she was dancin'. That wasn't the Kaori-sis I knew, she would never do something like that. I didn't think she would've had the strength." He broke down sobbing, as Yoshiki shook his head with a disgusted sigh at the fact that a mere child was witness to something like that.

"Good Lord." Satoshi muttered. "That might be why Dr. Kasemura said what he said, because he didn't witness all of the events when he covered himself from the blood spatter."

"Makes sense." Yoshiki nodded. "How about we take a break Seita? I don't want you to relive that again."

"No!" The child shouted through his tears. "You have to know the whole story right now 'cause that means you can go quickly and find her right away! Please, I just want Kaori-sis back and I want her to be the way she was again! Before this happened!"

Yoshiki sighed sorrowfully wanting to tell the kid that it's not how it all works out most of the time. He works in homicide so he would know. "Are you sure you want to continue this?"

"Yes, I'm almost done."

"Okay then." He shrugged.

"Anyway, Dr. Amagasaki hit with a splat on the ground and she fell to her knees screaming, she kept shouting a girl's name, 'Shiho' I think it was, then she shouted 'this is for you'." Seita paused, his voice trembling as he held back more tears. "Dr. Kasemura came up to her from behind and grabbed her putting a cloth over her mouth. She struggled a bit but then went limp and her eyes closed. He then said more bad words and dragged her over to his car, throwing her in the trunk. Then he drove off with her, I was so scared, I ran in the other direction and ran all the way back to the station. When I got back into town, a bunch of staff grabbed me. I tried to tell them what happened but another doctor there said I was being hysterical and everyone believed him!"

"Do you know that doctors name?"

"Sorry, I forgot it. I can try to remember it and tell you then."

"Alright, we'll leave our cards. The number is right there." Yoshiki pointed to the card and the boy nodded.

When they left the room they were greeted by the nurse who chuckled. "So, what did you think? A load a crock huh? These patients and the stories they come up with, it's silly."

"It's far from silly, it's completely legitimate." Yoshiki growled angrily.

"Wait, you actually believe that? And you're a detective." The nurse rolled her eyes.

"You actually believe you're a proper nurse, that's the sad part. In fact, you should watch your mouth; we'll have this facility shut down very soon."

"Excuse me."

"I don't believe you are." Yoshiki gave her a glare that made her cringe. "I've come across patients here locked up in padded cells and in chains. Do you think such restraint is a way to aid these patients in their psychosis?! And then to hire a doctor who has actually tried to rape a patient in this facility! On top of that, when the doctor shows up dead and the patient missing and someone tries to give you an explanation why, you brush it off as 'a load of crock'! Also, we have an eyewitness in protection stating that a doctor here drugged her and a nurse aided him! The conditions these patients are living in and the way they are being treated are absolutely deplorable, so don't stand here and think of yourself as a proper nurse!"

"Y-you can't do that.." She stammered.

"Watch me. I'll fill out the form right when we get back to the station."

"W-we have lots of money."

"Good for you, that's not the point!"

"Yoshiki." Satoshi rested his hand on his friends shoulder. "Let's go for now, there's other things we have to get to."

Yoshiki let out an angry sigh. "Right." He then turned and began walking with his friend away from the trembling woman. "Sometimes I wish there could be certain laws that would allow me to hit a woman." Upon hearing that, she quickly bolted in the other direction.

Before they could get far, Seita opened the door and called out to them. "I remember seeing that black stuff before, and it gave me the same feeling. Also, this isn't the first time Kaori-sis has disappeared."

"Really?" Yoshiki spun around and ran back up to the boy, Satoshi soon followed. "Was there another doctor using it or something? And when was the first time?"

"No, it was in a different place, me and Kaori-sis had to escape from it a while back, I was almost five when we went and Kaori-sis was my only friend when I had first arrived at this hospital then. So we did this fun charm with some of her friends from high school that usually visited her too, well we thought it was going to be. Anyway, when we got there, everyone died, including Kaori-sis when we were trying to escape. Or so I thought, a couple years after the incident, she was back at the hospital except she looked like some sort of ghost, but I could touch her. She acted the same too, not ghost like."

Yoshiki's eyes widened and he turned to look at Satoshi, who was equally shocked, a victim of the school who came back? How? "What place is this?"

"Heavenly Host."

Present Time…

"So, that damn doctor lied about Kaori Hasegawa. I knew that name sounded familiar and I knew I saw her nametag in that school. I think she's a spirit." Ayumi's eyes narrowed.

"Looks like it. Or something like that." Yoshiki sighed. "But now we have more questions that need answers and once we find her that's when we can get them answered."

"She's most likely with Dr. Kasemura, so we're going to search his home to get any leads on where he, and now she, might possibly be." Satoshi explained as the two detectives got up. "We're also going to follow up on Hasegawa's school, I remember that nametag too and I think it said Tendo Senior High School." Yoshiki and Ayumi nodded in agreement with that statement.

"Good luck." Ayumi wished for them, they nodded in return.

"Be careful Shinozaki." Yoshiki told her.

"Don't worry about me. I'll just be taking a nap for now. Plus," She smiled and gestured to the two girls sitting on the couch. "I have these lovely ladies with me." Azusa and Ran giggled.

"You better be on the lookout." Yoshiki pointed at them hoping they wouldn't let Ayumi get involved, he was kind of nervous about that 'for now' statement. They nodded vigorously to their superior.

"We're off." Satoshi waved as they headed back out the door.

Minutes later…

"I called evidence about Dr. Amagasaki's remains. Turns out they found one single strand of hair that belongs to Dr. Saito Kasemura, along with a bloodied handprint that is indeterminable and had a strange substance along with it like 'ectoplasm' they described it, it had the same consistency to Magic but they couldn't determine the substance." Satoshi explained closing his cell phone as they approached the residence of Dr. Kasemura.

"Lucky break, so I guess we know a bit better that Dr. Kasemura was involved and she could possibly be a spirit that committed Dr. Amagasaki's murderer." Yoshiki rubbed his chin.

"Still a spirit from Heavenly Host?" Satoshi questioned.

"If Shinozaki says it can happen, it must be so. She knows more about it than us." Yoshiki spoke confidently.

"So why not the spirits of our friends?"

"They don't have a vendetta like she did." Yoshiki jimmied the lock and kicked open the door. "Whoever is in here, we have a warrant. Come out with your hands up, police!" No answer.

"Guess we should start searching. From the looks of it, no one's been here in days." Satoshi shrugged. Just then the telephone on the kitchen table began ringing. Yoshiki ran over and answered it.

"Hello?"

"I'm really getting tired of you and your friend Detective Kishinuma." Yoshiki's eyes went wide.

"Who is this? Dr. Kasemura."

"Always the clever one aren't we?"

"How did you know we were going to be at your house?"

"I can bug my house with cameras too you know. Too bad, your girls there didn't have all the cameras up yet on Miss Shinozaki's house, that gave me just the right blind spot and vantage point to watch my experiment take place."

"So, I was right. You were there."

"Cleaver, cleaver detective. Of course I was, I wouldn't miss it for the world. However your actions then rather irritated me and worse, ruined the experiment."

"Just doing my job." Yoshiki smirked.

"Yes well, aren't we all. I am confused as to how a simple hug could overtake the drugs affects. Well, it doesn't matter; perhaps more testing is involved or different subjects."

"And you think we'll allow that to happen. That's funny." Yoshiki scoffed.

"I wasn't asking for your permission nor do I need it. In fact, my demands have already been met. Expect a call from your pretty officers back at Miss Shinozaki's residence. Oh and a message for Detective Mochida, he should expect a call from his family soon enough. Maybe this will stop you from committing anymore interferences in my research." There was a click, then a dial tone.

"What the hell does that supposed to mean? Hello? Dammit." Yoshiki hung up as Satoshi gave him a look.

"Was that who I think it was?"

"Yeah, this house is bugged, he's watching us so don't say anything." Yoshiki's cell phone started buzzing in his pocket and he pulled it out with a worried look. "A call expected from Shinozaki's place, she better be okay." The phone screen said the call was from Officer Takai, Azusa. He answered.

"Is Shinozaki alright?"

"No!" Came the voice of a panicked Azusa. "Something happened, all the monitors went out on the cameras and the screen we're watching the feed from went to black, then seconds after we heard Shinozaki-San scream."

Yoshiki's eyes went wide as she continued, "I desperately tried to get the cameras back up and working again while Ran went and checked on her. Unfortunately, Ran came back saying that her bed is empty and the bedroom window was left open. We've searched everywhere but," His hands trembled as he clutched the phone to his ears. "Shinozaki-San is gone, she's nowhere to be found, we have to find her and soon!"

"I told you to watch after her!" Yoshiki shouted into the receiver.

"I know and I'm sorry, we let you down, and that is our mistake. I'll try and track her down, but I've got nothing. Not even a fingerprint." He could tell Azusa was grabbing her hair in frustration.

"Goddammit, we don't have anything either!" Yoshiki punched the wall next to him.

"What's going on?!" Satoshi shouted, now in a panicked state as well.

"It appears we have to keep looking. I'll report anything back to you sir, I'm so sorry. How could Ran and I have let this happen? We should have been in the room while she was sleeping. It was my fault; I said I thought that would be too much!" Her voice trembled like she was about to burst into tears.

"Don't blame yourself; we do have to keep looking. Do an all-around inspection of the house and leave nothing unchecked, we'll do the same over her. And I thank you in advance for reporting your findings."

"Of course, we'll get right to that sir." As they hung up Yoshiki heard Azusa briefly speak on the other line before hitting 'end call', "God, please be with her." Another click ended the conversation between them and Yoshiki fell to his knees grabbing his head.

"Goddammit!"

"What is it?!" Satoshi begged his friend to tell him of the recent crisis.

"Shinozaki has disappeared, the camera feed was cut and then they heard her scream. When they went and checked, she was gone."

"What?! We have to find her!"

"Really?! That didn't occur to me!"

"Calm down Yoshiki, I know this is tough but you have to calm down."

Yoshiki took a deep breath but his nerves were too on edge, he knew full well he had to calm himself; he's losing his cool fast. But, this was Ayumi Shinozaki here. "Alright." He took a couple more breaths to try and calm himself. "They're looking for any clues up there about her sudden disappearance. We should start here; there's gotta be something that will lead us to her. She has to be taken where he is."

Satoshi nodded then Yoshiki grabbed his shoulder as if just remembering something, "That doctor said you should expect a call from your family."

"What?!" Like clockwork, Satoshi's cell phone began ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket, noticing it was a call from his Mom and answered, "Hey Mom, what's going on?"

"Hello Satoshi, sorry to bother you at work but, you haven't seen Yuka around lately have you." Satoshi's face went sheet white and his eyes went big.

"N-no I haven't."

"Rats, well it's almost 8:00 pm and I told her that she needs to come right home after school and do her homework. Her grades have been slipping, she better not be hanging out with her friends when she knows she needs to be working on getting better test scores."

Satoshi couldn't speak; he trembled in front of his friend unable to make a sound.

"Hmm, Satoshi what's the matter? You feeling alright hun?" The phone fell from Satoshi's hand and he stumbled back.

"Hello?... Hello?..." The receiver echoed and Yoshiki's brow furrowed.

"What did that bastard do?" He growled as tears streamed from Satoshi's eyes.

"Yuka… It's Yuka…"

"… Fuck."

**End**


	3. Hostage

((So slight AN, lots of the characters in here like Kaori Hasegawa are from fan made games which kinda inched into Corpse Party itself. Characters like Saito Kasemura and Anna Shueda are my OC's. Just to let everyone know… Um… I don't own anything. So it continues.))

**Ch. 3: Hostage**

There were several sounds echoing throughout her eardrums, the sound of dripping water and people muttering, a couple footsteps here and there. Her eyes fluttered open giving way to her blurry vision, which soon adjusted to her environment. She bolted upright with a gasp, chains rattled around her as she did. Following them with her eyes she found that the chains were attached to her. Looking around, she took in her surroundings, trapped in a cage, like an old prison cell and laying on a dirty mattress.

It appeared as though she was located in an abandoned hospital of some sort as she saw a gurney to her left, maybe even a mental hospital. To her right, she saw a large beacon of light illuminating the chipped and flaking painted walls, indicating an open door. There were people beyond that opening, that's where the muttering and footsteps were coming from; a leaking pipe off in the distance was making the dripping water sounds. She looked down at herself hugging her body and shivering, wondering why she was so cold, it soon occurred to her as she noticed her attire. She was only dressed in a light white long sleeved hospital gown, she was at least thankful that it covered her backside but felt extremely violated finding out she was undressed by her kidnappers. She had been abducted, that much she knew for sure. She had to find some way to get out of her shackles and inspect the place, then get the hell out.

Hot tears stung her eyes as panic welled up in her chest, she couldn't lose it now though. She had to focus. But, just then, there was a temperature drop and she felt even more frigid. She sensed a presence directly in front of her and when she looked up from her seated position she saw a girl with pale skin and long light blue hair, perfectly even bangs shadowing her face, dressed in a full dark blue school uniform and slumped over with a blue and black aura and mist rising from her body. She paused for a second and shook; the girl had eyes like a dead fish, like when she met Naho in Heavenly Host. Indeed, it's not like she hadn't seen a spirit before, but this was, like Naho, a spirit infected with the Darkening and furthermore, close to its breaking point. She swallowed hard and opened her mouth shakily to speak.

"You must be Kaori Hasegawa?"

"You've heard about me on the news." Her voice was low, almost like a whisper, and pained as if she was in complete agony.

"Well, I was under the watch of detectives who know about the case." She paused. "I also found your nametag in Heavenly Host next to your corpse."

"Nametag? Corpse?"

"It looked as though you died of multiple fractures. It must've been painful; I'm not sure why the doctors brought you back to the world of the living using that spell to break through dimensional space. But, I want to give your soul some peace, there's not much else I can do though."

"…" There was a long pause and she inched closer to the figure and bowed her head slightly.

"My name is Ayumi Shinozaki, I'm 21 years old and I'm an illustrator, you must have been a student when you ended up in Heavenly Host like I was. I was one of the few survivors; I wish you could have been the same."

"I'M NOT DEAD!" The sudden loud voice made Ayumi jump. "I mean, how can I be? I'm here." The ghastly figure looked at her sheet white hands, with wide and dead eyes, a disturbed smile on her face, she laughed nervously.

"You are though, it's noticeable. You've just been brought back here, from the closed spaces."

"NO! NO! NO!" The figure yanked at her hair, her dead eyes glaring angrily at nothing. "NO! IF I DIED THERE I WOULD BE TRAPPED THERE! AH! IT HURTS!" A slow trickle of blood started dripping down from her forehead.

"That's right! You would be trapped there and I saw your corpse there."

"IMPOSSIBLE!" She howled as she winced in pain and continued tugging at her hair.

"You're right about that too. You should have actually ceased to exist in this world from the time of your death in Heavenly Host, but the doctors used a spell from the Book of Shadows to create a rift between the closed spaces and this world and your spirit got through, possibly because of an attachment to one or more of those doctors, maybe one who looked after you while you were a patient? This caused you to exist once again here. My family is the keeper of the Book of Shadows, I have researched it for some time and-." A sudden shriek interrupted Ayumi.

"YOU'RE LYING! YOU'RE LYING! I'M ALIVE! THOSE DOCTORS! NO, THAT DOCTOR!" She cackled loudly, her head twisting at odd angles as blood started leaking from her body, upon closer inspection, Ayumi could see rusted shackles attached to her wrists. "I KILLED HIM! HAHAHA! THAT DISGUSTING BASTARD IS DEAD! AND I COULD KILL THE OTHER ONE TOO! IF THAT PRICK DIDN'T HAVE SO MANY CHARMS AND SHIT THAT SOMEHOW KEEP ME AWAY! I'VE NEVER FELT SO ALIVE! I HAVE TO BE! I'M ALIVE!" The ghoulish figure came closer to her prison cell. "I'M ALIVE! I'M ALIVE!"

"NO, you're not!" Ayumi burst into tears.

"IF I'M NOT ALIVE, WHY DID THEY GET TO LIVE, WHY DID HE GET TO LIVE?! OH THAT'S RIGHT," She cackled again. "I KILLED THAT ONE, WHY CAN'T I KILL THE OTHERS! DAMN THEM! I'M ALIVE! I HAVE TO BE ALIVE! I'M ALIVE! I'M ALIVE! I'M ALIVE!" She kept repeating that over and over again as Ayumi sobbed.

"No…. Hasegawa…. I'm sorry."

"I'LL KILL THEM ALL! KILL! KILL! KILL!" She paused and suddenly grabbed the bars on the cage housing Ayumi, the aura turning red as it and more black mist escaped her body and a twisted enraged look marred her face. "YOU… WHY DID YOU ESCAPE?!... WHY ARE YOU ALLOWED TO LIVE?!" She began shaking the bars vigorously and Ayumi trembled in fear, tears streaming down her face, knowing that it wasn't long until the bars would break. At least it would free her, but possibly to her death. And just as the bars snapped a dark figure in a gas mask, illuminated by the light from the open door, walked in and threw a vial of liquid at the spirit. The spirit stumbled back with a screech, then with a low groan, a black fluid began pouring from her mouth, just like that incident with Naho, except this time, she wasn't fading away. Looking closer at the shattered vial, she realized it had been her vial of Holy Water.

"Quiet down and behave! The boss says that he doesn't want his subjects being harmed!"

"Subjects." Ayumi muttered, "Well, that affirms what I suspected. Wait, subjects?"

"Onii-chan." She heard a soft whimper next to her as the door shut, cutting off most of the light; the only source of light now coming from the spirit of Kaori Hasegawa in the room, which was only a faint and pale glow.

"No…" Ayumi whispered.

"Onii-chan, where are you? I had a bad dream. It involved a lot of people yelling. It was so scary… Huh, what's going on? Where am I?! Onii-chan!"

"Shhhh… Yuka, calm down, it's okay I'm right here you just have to stop yelling." Ayumi turned to the small figure she just noticed in the mattress next to her. "You have to be quiet, so we can be safe."

"A-Ayumi Onee-chan?" Yuka sniffed as she tried to hold back tears, from the shock of her surroundings. She too, was only dressed in the same hospital gown. "What's going on? Where am I? Where's Onii-chan? And why are we here?"

"I have a feeling of what's going on. But, it won't involve you." At least that's what Ayumi hoped, but then again, why would she be here? "I'm not sure where we are or why we are here? But I know why I'm here and that your big brother is probably looking for us as we speak."

"Oh… Have we been kidnapped?"

Ayumi paused for a bit. "Y-yes."

"That means we could die." She started whimpering again as if she was about to burst into tears. It appears that she hadn't changed from when they last met either. Ayumi sighed, holding back her own fear.

"No, I'll get us out of here and to your big brother and Kishinuma-Kun."

"Yoshiki Onii-chan is looking too? That would make sense." She poked her fingers together and stared at her feet as she sat. The sound of Yuka's shackles were the only sound that filled the stagnant air at the moment. Ayumi tried to give Yuka a small smile.

"So Yuka, it's been a while. I hear you're in high school now, how exciting for you."

"Yeah, Onii-chan still volunteers to walk me to school. But, it's too early in the morning when he goes to work; usually I'm at school hours before it starts." Yuka giggled.

"Really? I guess that means more study time."

"I guess." Yuka shrugged and smiled indicating that she doesn't use that time for studying.

"You're brother's married now. Were you a part of the wedding?"

Yuka sighed at that statement as if in a huff, which confused Ayumi. "Yeah, I was the flower girl. He got married to Naomi Onee-chan." She seemed to pout over this.

"So I noticed. Well, he and Kishinuma-Kun are the detectives working the case involving me." She pause thinking of something to make Yuka stop pouting about it. "I bet you were the prettiest girl there."

Yuka giggled again. "Of course I was." Another cheerful laugh. "How have you been Ayumi Onee-chan?

"I have been quite well, thanks for asking."

"Did you ever get a job after graduation?"

"Yeah, I got my dream job. I'm an illustrator now."

"Oh, good job. I thought Onii-chan wouldn't get a job, but he got one with his best friend." She paused as Ayumi nodded. "Do you think I'll get a job too, after I graduate?"

"Of course, if you work hard enough, you can even get your dream job."

Yuka smiled, "With my best friend?"

"Maybe, who knows? The future is still unknown."

The two girls giggled softly but were interrupted by the sound of the ghost coughing and sputtering as it returned to a standing position. Yuka gasped at the sight of it and Ayumi held her away from the broken front of the cage.

"Hasegawa-San." She called out weakly.

"…" No response.

"Are you alright?"

"…" Still nothing, Ayumi paused as she thought to herself.

"Does the name Shiho mean anything to you?" The spirits aura began to turn blue.

"Wh-What? How do you know her?"

"A detective told me you mentioned her." It was a slight bluff of hers but she was hoping to talk to this spirit and get some help from her. "Was she a friend or relative?"

"My… Little sister."

"I see. I'm sorry for your loss."

"It doesn't matter, she hates the living now, and me. I don't like that; I don't want her to hate me or the living. I don't want to hate the living myself."

Ayumi's brow furrowed at the remark but at least she was making headway with the spirit. "What about the name Seita?"

"He's a good kid." The spirits face became saddened as her aura was now fully blue and the blood and black mist was gone, though her dead eyes couldn't portray any emotion. "I'm sorry… For what I have done."

"No need for the apologies." Ayumi paused again. "How about you start from the beginning? Do you think you can tell me when you got to Heavenly Host and what happened there? Maybe your information could help us."

"Do you…. Really want to know about it?"

Ayumi nodded. "Yes, like I said, it could help."

The spirit of Kaori sighed; her blank, dead eyes focused on them with a sullen expression. "I did horrible things…. I went there twice; I knowingly put others in danger. All just to see my sister… But all I got was to hear her say that she hates me." The spirit looked as if she would break into tears. Ayumi looked sympathetically upon her.

"Please, I know it hurts but please, help me."

The spirit appeared to be gathering herself, then she spoke. "Alright then, maybe it will be good if someone who survived finally knows of our story."

Day 2…

"Man, this guy had been researching Shinozaki for a while; his hard drive is loaded with her patient files and all her doctoral visits." Satoshi gazed at his computer screen for a while as he rubbed his chin. "Did the lab ever get back to you about the mysterious powder the other two found on the window in Shinozaki's bedroom?"

"Yeah." Yoshiki rubbed his head. "They told me that it was specks of paint mixed with a soft and padded foam like substance, the stuff that a padded cell or isolation room would be made out of in a mental institution."

"Would it be at the place we were yesterday?" Satoshi sat up from his chair and stretched.

"No, the lab workers told me it's to deteriorated and aged. That it's most likely from one of the old abandon asylums." Yoshiki lowered his head with a sigh.

"We deserved that chewing out from the boss." Satoshi walked over to the wall and looked into the mirror. "How could he get information about my family? And what would he want with Yuka?"

"Being chewed out wasn't something that was on my mind. No matter what, we will find Shinozaki and will start by checking every mental hospital in the area if we have to. Yuka has to be with her, that bastard mentioned something about wanting more patients for his experiments." Yoshiki stated his fist clenched in anger.

"Yeah, but still." Satoshi paused. "He probably looked me up and got information about my family, and went from there." Satoshi growled. "You're right though, we will find them, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something terrible happened to them."

"Well, neither would I." Yoshiki stared at the floor as he rose to his feet. "We should get to searching any abandoned mental hospitals."

"There are three in the area and two more farther out. But the faster we get started the quicker we can find Shinozaki and Yuka." Satoshi explained shutting down his computer.

"So let's get started." Yoshiki grabbed his coat.

"Right behind ya." Satoshi followed after.

Day 1…

"The first time I did the charm with a friend of mine and my dear little sister, Shiho." The spirit explained to the two prisoners. "We thought we had appeased the spirit of the girl who created the hellish environment we found ourselves in, but it turns out we were wrong."

"Sachiko…" Ayumi whispered. Kaori's spirit nodded in response.

"That girl in red chased after use, she took a pair of scissors to my dear sister's ankles. Her tendons had been cut and I wanted to go back for her, I wanted to save her but, my friend said that we had to get out of there. A spirit of a girl with a missing eye we had met and befriended earlier materialized in front of us and emphasized this point."

"That must have been Yuki-Chan." Ayumi muttered.

The spirit nodded again and continued, "My friend and I barely escaped with our lives before the spaces closed again and the girl in red gained her power back, according to the spirit of Yuki. But I couldn't stand the fact that my dear sister had died there, her spirit left to suffer in another dimension. Worst part of it was, when we got back, no one remembered her, like she never even existed."

"I'm sorry…" Ayumi gave the spirit a comforting look which made the ghost chuckle softly with a somber tone.

"I kept demanding everyone that Shiho had existed once, but I was deemed crazy and hysterical and locked up in a psychiatric hospital. I had to deal with the most horrendous doctor in that place, he was positively dreadful."

"Dr. Amagasaki I'm guessing?"

"Correct." Kaori's spirit sighed softly. "But, it wasn't all bad. A few friends visited me from time to time and you know about Seita apparently. He was another patient there whose parents had been extremely abusive. He needed to get some therapy before he could go into foster care, though the facility we were at wasn't one for 'help'." The spirit scoffed.

"So I've heard." Ayumi nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, that's a different subject." Kaori brushed it aside. "He would always come to my room and would ask me to tell him stories. He's a sweet kid and I would always tell him stories of a beautiful princess and he was a prince. The princess I would always envision to be my dear late sister. I had always wondered how much fun the two would have if they had met each other."

Kaori paused and appeared to be gathering herself. "Though as the days went by I wished more and more just to see my dear sister once more, so I told my friends and Seita about the charm and asked if we could try it. The friend who went with me before was vehemently against it of course. But we soon found out that we had to do the charm when two of our friends decided to perform the charm before us. We had to go after them and that's when I realized how horrible of a person I was." She began to tear up. "Dragging my friends and Seita into such a horrible situation all for my own selfish gain; even when I finally came across the spirit of my sister, I found she had developed a deep hatred for me. For leaving her behind and continuing to live on without her, but my life was miserable without her." Kaori began to break down in sobs as she laid out the events that lead to the end of her life.

"Hasegawa-San… It wasn't your fault." Ayumi wished she could offer her a tissue but she had nothing on her and she wasn't sure if those were physical tears.

"It got to the point where all my friends had been killed off by the school, even the one who survived with me the first time. Then, it was just me and Seita together in that despicable school. That's when we found the spirit of my sister and found out how she felt about me. The words that came from her mouth were pure venom. It stung like a sword piercing my heart." She paused. "That's when we heard a bell began to toll, my sister giggled in an awful and evil way and told us that the closed space had opened up and that we better get moving. I was shocked when I heard her say that, that someone had actually appeased the spirit or at least I had hoped. I wasn't sure since the last time I tried it didn't work out."

"That must have been when we were there, right Yuka." Yuka nodded to Ayumi slowly. "I'm not sure why it failed with you but, yes. I, Yuka here and three other friends of mine were able to successfully appease Sachiko."

"So you were there with me. It's a shame that we didn't run into each other during the time there, we could have helped each other out. Though maybe there is a reason that we hadn't met then."

Ayumi nodded and the spirit continued, "Once again I directed Seita to run to the outside walkway with me in order to make our escape. But something prevented me to continue from exiting the bomb shelter along with Seita. All I remember is that I fell to the ground and there was this large zombie like man hovering over me, wielding a sledgehammer. I was yelling to Seita, telling him to keep running. He must have escaped but I don't remember anything since he left my field of view. I guess I lost consciousness but I don't remember what happened after that, all I know is when I woke up it was in my bed in my room at the hospital. I felt very different and I remember that I looked a bit different too. My skin looked grey at times and I would have a light blue aura around me. Food, water, none of that appealed to me and when I checked the calendar it had been years since the second incident I had with Heavenly Host. Though, I was happy to see Seita was alive and well, so good to see he made it out. He started coming back into my room for story time again and things started to become somewhat normal."

"Yoshikazu. He must have murdered you then. And after years passed, you were brought back here with the Book of Shadows years later as a spirit; someone must have known how to translate it." Ayumi pondered for a bit.

"Dr. Amagasaki was good when it came to translating something. He must have performed the spell that opened up that rift in the closed spaces, according to you."

"That would make sense, so you think it's possible you would attach yourself to him? Maybe because of some sort of connection like a vendetta."

Kaori's spirit nodded after thinking for a bit. "By your logic, that should be accurate. I wished with all my heart that he would rot in hell."

"So it's all starting to make sense." Ayumi's breath hitched as light flooded the room, the spirit of Kaori rose to her feet and Yuka pulled herself close to Ayumi. The door had opened and someone was coming in.

"It seems you've discovered that Miss Hasegawa isn't shall we say, 'lively'?" Dr. Kasemura walked in with a horrible chuckle. "Yes, she just happens to be dead. Odd how that rift just spit out an unconscious ghost girl and suddenly Dr. Amagasaki remembered who this girl was."

Ayumi's eyes narrowed at the doctor as she held Yuka close to her. He approached their broken cages, "Hmmm, really did a number here."

"Don't hurt them!" Kaori growled, her aura turning red. He threw a handful of salt to prevent her from advancing.

"Don't worry. I'm merely examining my subjects."

Day 2…

"Dammit." Satoshi muttered. "Almost close to nothing at every location in town."

Yoshiki folded his arms, "We were able to get one sample at least, let's get that to the lab. Hard to believe there are old abandon asylums that don't have padded rooms. We'll just have to continue our search outside of town, tomorrow. They have to be in one of those."

"Even in the one we got the sample from, there were still no signs of human life anywhere." Satoshi sighed and lowered his head. "We're wasting time. By tomorrow they could be dead."

"You said it yourself Satoshi, we will find them. Besides, as far as we know, they would have no reason to kill either of them. Then he wouldn't have a good grip on us. He most like has some use for them and for us for that matter." That had to be true to Yoshiki, and that's what he was trying to convince Satoshi of. If the doctor had half a mind to kill Ayumi, Yoshiki would have his head on a silver platter. That would be the same for if Yuka wound up dead too, Satoshi would have none of that.

"That would make sense; we could just be playing right into a trap." Satoshi paused. "All I know is that we have to find them fast."

"Yeah." Yoshiki nodded in agreement. "Let's just hope we're ready for any trap."

Day 2…

Ayumi held Yuka close as they trembled in the busted cage. Kaori lay in the corner surrounded by various spiritual charms that were weakening her and suppressing her powers. Yesterday, the doctor had left them with blankets and a couple of pillows, it wasn't much however, they were living like prisoners. Now, he entered back in the dark and dank room carrying the Book of Shadows with him, obviously up to something serious.

"I do hate wasting my precious creation on this ghost. Besides, instead of keeping watch over you with an iron clad grip like I intended she just goes nuts. I guess that's to be expected; now she'll remain a prisoner. Though she will not be given the best treatment the likes of which I will provide to you."

'Best treatment, my ass.' Ayumi thought rolling her eyes as he turned from the spirit to them.

"Now, let's get to business."

"Do what you want to me!" Ayumi shouted. "Just leave Yuka out of this." Yuka whimpered in her arms as the doctor chuckled.

"Oh my dear patient, I must have use for both of you. But right now, you and I need to have a little chat." With that a couple of men in gas masks surrounded Ayumi and unshackled her, lifting her up and dragging her out of the room with the doctor following close behind.

"Ayumi Onee-chan!" Yuka called out to her.

"It's alright Yuka, everything will be fine. You be good and keep Hasegawa-San company. I'll be back." Ayumi shouted back trying to calm the girl. After all, it was better her than Satoshi's dear little sister. She was immediately shackled by her wrists, hanging from the ceiling of a room where several computer monitors were set up. Like a temporary security base of some sort, from the looks of it, it's just as she expected. This must be a temporary hideout; he most likely isn't living in a dump like this. She looked to each monitor, trying not to focus on the pain of all her weight pulling at her arms from being suspended from the ceiling, she wasn't that heavy but her lack of upper body strength was the biggest factor; as her eyes focused on the images her jaw dropped in shock.

There was her home on one of them, from the cameras set up at her place. She didn't see Ran or Azusa around her home, but she saw them both on another monitor at the police station, they were both appeared very distressed as they talked with someone in a lab coat. It would make sense since she was technically missing. On another monitor were two equally distressed detectives, in front of the station talking with each other, about where she could be. She could hear chatter from the monitors loud and clear and it hurt to hear how desperate they were about finding her and Yuka.

'I'm here. Kishinuma-Kun, Mochida-Kun, I'm here.' She wanted to shout, but found herself unable to speak as the doctor approached her and reached out to touch her cheek. She jerked away from his hand, the chains jingling and rattling above her. He pulled his hand away in a nonchalant manner and made his way to the monitors.

"Isn't it amazing, I've hacked into almost all of the cities security feed, including the ones at your home and at the police station, all undetected. I can even hack into each of the webcams of a few select individuals." He pressed a button and one monitor displayed a view from her own webcam, her eyes narrowed at him. "Not only yours but also Officers Takai and Kobayashi as well as Detectives Mochida and Kishinuma. Even I amaze myself sometimes." He turned to her with a smirk and then to the monitor displaying Yoshiki and Satoshi. In a disturbing manor he traced his finger along the image of Yoshiki. "I can see why you're drawn to him; he is quite an exquisite being isn't he? Positively amazing form and perfect frame, the sex appeal almost radiates off of him doesn't it?"

She gave a disgusted look, "What are you, gay for him or something? Besides who said I was attracted to him? Furthermore, I will get out of here and inform them about your unauthorized and illegal surveillance."

He chuckled at this, "From my previous research, you appear to be very attracted to him. And believe me, you will be released, you and Detective Mochida's sweet sister." He sighed, "Unfortunately for you and them, I will be long gone once I release you both. I plan on informing them of that too, they're definitely close to discovering where this location is so it's unfortunate for them that they won't catch me in time."

"But soon you won't be able to hide, you'll run out of hiding places sometime and you can't run forever." Another chuckle as if he was brushing the comment aside. She paused giving him a glare. "So since you're planning on releasing us, why not do it now? Whatever plans you have just do them already and be sure to leave Yuka out of it. All experiments you have planned, do them all on me."

"Oh I have plans for you but that will happen in due time. I have you here for two reasons actually, one of which is why I brought you in here."

She sighed, preparing herself for any torturous experiments, though the chains pulling at her arms were causing enough strain and torture on her body as the weight of the gravity wanting to bring her back down seemed to become heavier and heavier. She didn't think such a small thing like herself would cause so much discomfort in a situation like this. "Fine, but I need to know one thing. Why did you lie to me about Hasegawa-San?"

"Would you believe me if I said she was initially dead when I met her? I mean think about it."

"But you have full knowledge that I know about spirits."

"Yes, I figured a naïve young lady like yourself would just assume that when a doctor tells you she's dead, she's dead. Really, I just didn't want your focus to be on some ghost or demon that's hanging around. But, inevitably that's where it went thanks to Amagasaki." He remarked with a slight hiss. "That man screwed everything up, but I've worked around it as you may have noticed. What's important to me is not some ghost, it's my research. I told you that about the train so your focus wouldn't be on what's not important when you went to the police. It was a little white lie that had a high possibility of backfiring, which it did. But like I told you, it doesn't matter. You were bound to figure it out, your detectives sniffing something like that out fascinates me though."

"Naïve?! You really have underestimated me. You shouldn't take a girl of the Shinozaki family like that for granted. By the way, of course they would figure it out, they know about the curse around me as well as having a good knowledge of spirits, being close friends to me and what we've been through together, it was only natural that they did. Plus they're detectives, people like that tend to have pretty good bullshit detectors."

"But you did believe me at the time, am I wrong."

"Very, cause I didn't. And she is no mere ghost or demon, but a spirit of Heavenly Host. Like the spirit of Naho, except she appears to have a flesh and blood body; like a tangible being such as Sachiko."

"Hmm, I see." He paused for a minute. "…Naho? Who is that? And Sachiko, I've read that's one of your relatives that died tragically at a young age."

Her brow furrowed. "Yes that's true, but it appears that you don't know much about me or my family after all."

"I know your lineage makes you the keeper of the Book of Shadows." He produced the said book. "And about how this book is a curse to you and your family."

"What about that, are you finally going to return it to its rightful place?"

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't. I need to use it to open up that rift again. I need to restock my wonderful discovery, I can't just run out you know. Supply and demand."

"There's no one in demand for something like the Darkening." She snarled.

"You don't know much about street rats, druggies or sex addicts, honey."

She felt herself become sick at that pet name, "You did it once before. What's stopping you now? Obviously not empathy."

"That's where you come in." He spun around with an awful smirk. "I need you to translate the words in this book. Some of them are already translated but, that's not enough obviously. Amagasaki was the one who performed the spell, after some big monologue that the supernatural didn't exist, guess we were wrong. But, the point is he was able to read it and he's dead now, I unfortunately can't, so hence I need you to."

"Like hell I will! Why don't you look up how to translate it, you seem pretty tech savvy." She scoffed.

"I would rather the keeper of such a book be the one to do it for me. As I assume the owner knows how to read it."

"You know the first spell I did out of that; I screwed up because I didn't know the translation for it, that's how my sister met her fate as you know." She replied. "That was the first and only spell I did."

"But as its keeper, you have studied it."

"Yeah, you probably know that too, I figured out how to read the text after studying it for a time. But that doesn't mean I'll translate it for you."

"Of course I knew you wouldn't be willing of course." He turned back to the monitor and pressed a button, focusing in on Yoshiki's image. "I wonder what a perfect being like him would be like if he let his inner beast take over?"

"The hell are you talking about?"

"If I could just give that a boost, just push him towards that basic instinct, that animalistic behavior." He turned to the vial of the dark and vile liquid with a disturbed grin.

She gasped. "You disgust me more than anything I could ever think of, how do you even expect to get that into Kishinuma?!"

He chuckled eerily. "I have my ways, so how about that translation. Or do I need to involve little Yuka in my experiments?"

"Don't you dare touch her!" She spat as he approached her with that despicable smirk of his. "I hope Kishinuma punches you in the face if you try and force that stuff on him."

"It won't be me who will try that my dear." He cupped a hand over her cheek and she attempted to jerk away again only to have his free hand grab a hold of her waist. "You're so beautiful; I can see why he's so attracted to you. You're just so cute."

She struggled against him as he attempted to plant a kiss on her lips or cheek, she couldn't tell as she turned from him instantly, trying to break free; wanting to swat his hands away as she struggled trying to prevent them from going up her hospital gown. "Whoever tries that shit, they deserve a punch in the face by him and so do you, you sick pervert now get…. Off…. Of me!"

Eventually, he let go of her in frustration, but not before she felt his wet tongue run along her cheek, she shuddered wanting to wipe the cold saliva away as fast as she could.

"You shouldn't look so tempting if you don't want it! Why are you trying to fight it anyway?! You belong to me, you're my test subject! You WILL obey me!" He ran over in a blind rage and slapped her hard across the face. Ayumi cried out in pain as her cheek tingled and stung. He clenched his fists and breathed heavily before turning away from her and let out a long, deep breath; his calm and despicable demeanor returning. "I hope to see the results of my recent experiment very soon; I want to see the beastly animal he can become. I wonder how Yuka will react to this as well? She'll become quite the naughty school girl."

"You sick bastard." She paused for a moment, in thought. "Fine, I'll translate it for you, I'll even write it in the margins of the book itself. Now your end of the bargain is to leave Yuka-Chan out of it and let us go! Same goes for Kishinuma, but he'll probably give you what you deserve!"

"I'm glad we're on the same page." His lackeys unshackled her and she fell to the floor. The book, some papers and a pen were thrown in front of her. "You'll both be released by tomorrow, until then you'll have to get to it and finish by tonight. We leave tomorrow morning, and I can't tell you where. Not that it will matter or that you could figure it out, first thing in the morning, both of you will be blindfolded. Just to let you know in advance."

"Go to hell." She hissed, he laughed as he left the room and she grumbled as she began writing down the translations. She smirked a bit as she turned to the now shut door and was about to say something but decided not to, figuring he's probably got cameras in the room watching her. She then returned back to her writings and in the matter of a couple of hours, she finished and was about to curl up in the corner somewhere and fall asleep when she noticed herself on one of the monitors. Just then, Dr. Kasemura's lackeys entered the room.

"It's finished?"

She nodded and with that, she was escorted back to that dark room, tossed back in the broken cage onto that filthy mattress and re-shackled next to a shivering and sleeping Yuka. A sad look in her eye she pulled the shivering girl close to her, in an attempt to warm her up. Yuka absent mindedly and in her sleep cuddled close to her. Looking around in the darkness, aside by the faint glow of Kaori's pale and weak aura, she found a small and limp blanket, dampened by the humidity in the room. She quickly threw it over the both of them, it wasn't much but at least it was something. One thing she knew is that she was glad to get out of this by tomorrow, her and Yuka. As her eyes fluttered to a close and sleep began to envelope her, her last thought was of Yoshiki's smiling face. "Kishinuma-Kun….Get him." She whispered as she fell into an uncomfortable night's sleep, a trembling Yuka held in her arms.

Day 3…

"Well, our sample turned out negative, any good news from the girls and their location." Satoshi rubbed his eyes; it was obvious he hadn't had a decent amount of sleep in a while. Yoshiki turned to his friend after closing his phone, looking equally as tired and strained.

"That was them; they said the lab had a match so they're heading back to the location for a more detailed search. Though, it seemed as deserted as ever to them. We better meet them there and join them in their search; we have to find something there, or hopefully someone."

"It sounded like we were getting somewhere and then you hit me with that." He sighed. "But you're right, we have to look. We have to find them."

They wasted no more time getting out to their destination, an abandon insane asylum on the far outskirts of the next town over. They arrived just in time to see Ran and Azusa get out of their car, dressed in full uniform and greeted the two detectives.

"I have a bad feeling; it's absolutely desolate and silent in there." Azusa shivered, as they approached the bleak and ominous building. "And it feels as though, a lost soul was recently there and has moved on to another location." Ran whimpered nervously at her companion's reaction.

"A lost soul?" Satoshi questioned as Azusa nodded an affirmative.

"It could be Hasegawa." Yoshiki pulled out a picture he obtained at Tendo Senior High School earlier today. "Shinozaki mentioned that she could be a spirit accidentally transported to the real world from the spell that Kasemura and Amagasaki pulled off to bring the Darkening here."

"Hmmm." Azusa peered over at the image. It was a group photo with a bunch of classmates, all but one of the faces were blacked out. The one that wasn't was Kaori Hasegawa but her image was extremely faded. "That's an interesting picture you got there. I get a strange vibe from it; I think Shinozaki-San is right."

"Well, we should focus on finding her and my sister." Satoshi opened the door and they all entered quickly.

"Ya know what's been bothering me though. Doesn't that Darkening stuff seem different to you guys than from what we saw in Heavenly Host?" Ran pointed out.

"Come to think of it, you do have a point. It seems more…. Physical and less spiritual if you know what I mean." Azusa held her bottle of Holy Water close as she searched around. "I didn't really think about it until you mentioned it Ran." Ran giggled happily at her companion's acknowledgement.

"Huh, it could be the different dimension." Satoshi shrugged as he followed Ran's flashlight, disappointed that there was still no sign of his dear sister.

Yoshiki nodded in agreement as he followed Azusa who was lighting the path for him. "Makes sense since it's been brought into a real dimension and not a closed space. But Satoshi has a point; we need to get to finding Shinozaki and Yuka." The girls nodded and turned toward a dark and dank room. Instantly, all in the party knew something was off. "It looks like someone had hooked up a bunch of equipment in this area." Yoshiki lifted a severed wire off the ground that seemed to snake underneath the floor. He then turned to where Satoshi was focused, chains and cuffs hanging from the ceiling, looking as though they've been recently used. "That looks wonderful." He grunted sarcastically.

"Doesn't it though?" Satoshi replied with equal sarcasm. "Doesn't look like it's that old or rusted, in fact it looks like it's been recently restored." Yoshiki nodded when his view focused on a small thread like material on one of the chains. He leaned in closer and his eyes went wide, it was a dark blue strand of hair.

"Shinozaki!" He immediately plucked it out and plopped it in an evidence bag, a sullen expression dawned on his face.

"She was here." Satoshi narrowed his eyes. "We now know that for sure."

"Do you think she's close?" Yoshiki turned to his best friend, a slight twinge of desperation in his voice.

Satoshi sighed with a frown, having the same concern for his sister. "We can only hope."

Moments later Azusa wrapped her arms around herself and shivered as they entered a dark basement area. "Now I know a spirit was here a moment ago." She tilted from side to side, like she was losing her balance and was about to faint.

"Yome!" Ran cried out in fear as she stumbled forward. With quick thinking and footwork Yoshiki burst into action, reaching out and wrapping his arms around her waist, catching her and preventing her from falling forward. She froze at the feeling of his strong arms around her and his body lightly pressed against her own, holding her dangling form close. A trickle of cold sweat trailed down her temple and she swallowed hard. Yoshiki, who had gained his footing rather quickly, stood holding her and sighed.

"You alright now? Don't scare us like that, you could have been hurt." He released her and she shakily stood to her feet. She turned to him, twiddling her fingers, her face a light shade of red.

"Y-yes, sorry about that Senpai." Azusa folded her hands and looked down at the floor ((Notice me Senpai!)).

"It's really no big deal, nothing to be embarrassed by." He told her, naïve to what had embarrassed her, which was obvious to everyone else. Being in such close proximity with him just a bit earlier made her mind race. She wanted to douse herself in her own Holy Water to rid herself of such dirty thoughts. "I've dealt with much more fearsome situations with Shinozaki, which we should get back to searching for…" He continued but paused giving the blushing, blond officer a weird look. "Did you just call me Senpai?" ((NOTICE ME! O.o )) She giggled, her face turning even redder.

"Yome! You look so cute when you blush!" Ran giggled like a school girl.

"R-Ran!" Azusa gasped in shock as Satoshi sighed.

"Shouldn't we be focused on the problem at hand like Yoshiki said?"

"Yeah, back to work you two." Yoshiki muttered shaking his head at their behavior ((enough moe…. For nao. Don't ask about the whole senpai thing, it's just for randomness)).

"Gotcha Senpai!" Ran saluted as she spoke in a mocking tone and winked at Azusa.

"Y-yes! I agree, enough goofing around." She grumbled shivering from the cold atmosphere as she shot a look back at Ran.

"Shit!" Satoshi exclaimed, his eyes rested upon a broken down cage, like a prison cell. "This is probably where he kept them, looks like they're gone now." He pulled on some gloves and began searching through the musty blankets and dirty mattresses among the chains in the dilapidated cell. Yoshiki wasted no time in joining him and the girls stood over the two with their flashlights.

"Here's another strand of hair. From the color, it must be Yuka's, we'll send all of this to the lab. You two willing to make that trip?" Yoshiki looked to his subordinates and they nodded, both their expressions very serious.

"Of course." Azusa assured.

"Goddammit." Satoshi muttered through grit teeth.

"We'll find them. We have to." Yoshiki clenched his fists and looked around the busted cage. "Who, or what did this?"

"I have a feeling it was the spirit, look." Azusa pointed at the floor where a shattered vial lay.

"It's Shinozaki-Sans' vial of Holy Water!" Ran gasped.

"You sure like to state the obvious." Yoshiki growled.

"S-sorry sir." Ran shifted awkwardly.

"Yoshiki, stay calm, you said we'll find them. There's no need to take it out on her." Satoshi spoke as calmly as he could.

"Right, yeah." Yoshiki sighed and glanced at the floor looking at the shattered glass. "My apologies."

"It's okay, I understand." Ran smiled a little. "I'm to assume we'll take this into evidence too."

"Actually, it's probably better to get the crime scene technicians out here while the scene is still mostly undisturbed. Let's be sure not to get anything else out of disarray." Yoshiki explained as he regained his composure.

Azusa nodded, "Probably right about that. Wait, something's written on the wall there." Azusa flashlight caught a glint of red and focused on what appeared to be a message written in the lower right corner of the wall inside the cage. She leaned in to get a better look.

"I told you not to tamper with more evidence." Yoshiki leaned over.

"Wait, let's just read this." Azusa gave him a worried look

"It looks like Shinozaki's handwriting." His eyes went wide. Now curious, Satoshi and Ran tried to squeeze in to get a good look.

"Let's not get all cramped up in here." Yoshiki muttered.

"Yeah, I'll read it out loud to everyone." With that, Azusa took a deep breath and read the following note; it appeared to be written in blood. There was a glass shard next to the note with a bloodstain on it. Obviously it was the tool used most likely on her finger, judging by the style it's written, to create the medium.

_Kishinuma-Kun, Mochida-Kun, I hope you find this _

_I was her in this cage with Yuka, we have been trapped her for two days. I have had a decent amount of food and water and the chance to shower; I'm not sure about Yuka though. I was forced to translate the Book of Shadows for Kasemura, however I had a plan for that which he doesn't know about. Hopefully he doesn't find this note in morning, I couldn't sleep that well so I'm writing this at about midnight. We will be blindfolded and handcuffed early in the morning and taken to a different location. I don't know where that will be and I don't know how I'll find out but, I'll try. Either way, he told us he would return us home by the end of tomorrow. He better keep his promise, though if that is his promise, he most likely has a devious plan in mind. It better not be the one he told me about, he promised not to do that as long as I translate the Book of Shadows. Still, I hope to see you soon and get Yuka home peacefully, despite the circumstances. This is all I can tell you for now, someone is coming… _

_Shinozaki_

"How awful, that she had to stay in a place like this." Azusa sighed sorrowfully. "What plan could she be referring to?"

"He probably tortured her in that room to get her to translate that book for him, and told her if she didn't he had a plan that would make her do so in exchange for not enacting that plan of his. Though he's probably going back on his word and putting that plan into place as we speak." Yoshiki snarled.

"I swear, if he even touched Yuka…" Satoshi trembled in anger.

"Guys!" Ran called out, running up to them with something in her hands. "You might want to look at this." She handed over a photo taken from one of those old Polaroid cameras but, it was recent and it had something written on the back. Yoshiki's jaw dropped as he looked at the photo. It displayed Ayumi and Yuka sitting back to back in hospital gowns, handcuffed and blindfolded in the very same cage. A snarl on his face, he flipped it over and read the message on the back.

_So sorry boys, you showed up too little too late, and now we've moved on. Of course I'll be taking my subjects with me. You understand right, but not to fear, you'll have them back by tonight. Let's just say I have a real fun experiment set up for the two of you involving my subjects. But first, I need to have a little chat with Miss Shinozaki about a little note to you two that she left. I'm sure you've read it by now, I must know what that little plan of hers was. Though, if I can't get her to tell me by tonight, I have other ways of finding it out. So long for now, I'll be sure to see the results of my work tonight. You may ask how I might do that, well, I have eyes everywhere._

_Dr. Kasemura_

"Bastard!" Satoshi growled. "He could be anywhere by now."

"What does he mean by eyes everywhere?" Ran pondered.

"That's probably referring to the signs that there was equipment of some sort in that room, he must have monitors watching us. But how, and why? And is he watching us now?" Azusa added. A silence befell them and no one offered and answer.

"Dammit!" Yoshiki shouted as loud crack echoed through the room startling the other three, he was right about the doctors plan and his betrayal of Ayumi. He had punched a large hole in the old wall, shattering some of the drywall, which crumbled to the wet floor.

"Yoshiki, you need to have a level head remember." Satoshi rested a hand on his friends shoulder. "Believe me, I'm as equally frustrated."

Yoshiki grit his teeth and removed his fist from the wall as Azusa and Ran approached cautiously. Azusa reached out to try and comfort him.

"Do you think they'll really be back by tonight?"

"They better be." Yoshiki snarled. "I don't care what he has planned but for his sake. He better hope so."

Hours later…

Yoshiki flung open his apartment door with an angry grunt as he swung it shut and hung his coat on the nearby rack. He dropped his keys on the nearby coffee table and made his way over to his computer, sitting down at the desk and wiggling the mouse, the familiar artificial light illuminated his face as the screen flickered to its desk top. He lived in a modest flat on the third floor of an apartment complex, a great upgrade from the small apartment he had in high school. This one had a lot more space to it, a decent bathroom and washroom, a good size kitchen and bedroom, and a large living area. It was nothing like the house Satoshi shared with his wife Naomi or the lovely home that Ayumi owned and that which he had the privilege of staying in.

Yoshiki sighed and rubbed his temple as he pulled up a couple of files and records he had sent to his computer about the case at hand. He wished Ayumi was within his reach, safe and sound. But to finally get to the end of this, he had to find the doctor, once again. He knew if that doctor did not keep his word, he will find him and make him pay. He grit his teeth in an angered scowl as he scanned across the various files on his screen, most of them on Dr. Kasemura. He clenched his fist seeing nothing new about Dr. Kasemura or anything about his whereabouts.

"Dammit, I can't just sit here and do nothing." He growled as he scrolled through more documents. Then with a groan, he rested his head in his hands. "Shinozaki."

There was a flicker across his screen and a small bright light blinked on at the top. He looked up in confusion at the image of himself on the computer screen. "The hell? Why is my webcam on all of a sudden?"

A sudden crash echoed loudly behind him, and he knew immediately that it was his door swinging open. Fast footsteps soon followed, someone had blatantly broken into his home and was coming at him, in fact, it sounded like two people. Though as he got up to charge his unwelcomed guests he was grabbed from behind, a moist and cold compress clamped against his mouth. He hadn't been quick enough, he thought, as he struggled vigorously against his attacker, he pinched his lips together as a thick, viscous liquid was forced down his throat. He knew immediately what it was from the dark mist floating up from the damp cloth over his mouth; Magic, the Darkening.

He coughed and sputtered for air as he broke from his attackers grasp and tossed him over his shoulder and onto his back with all his might. The gas masked attacker grunted loudly as he hit the floor and another attacker who had barely dodged the flailing body from moments ago had now backed away from Yoshiki slightly, wielding a knife. Yoshiki pulled his gun and aimed it at the masked, knife carrying figure.

"Put the knife down!" He commanded. Just as he did he noticed the other intruder crawling onto his stomach and grabbing a hold of the discarded fabric laced with the drug. Yoshiki stomped his foot down onto his hand, making the guy scream out in pain as he pulled the drug laced fabric from under his squished hand. "Where are you going with this?"

"It's ours!" The other shouted as he charged brazenly with his knife. Yoshiki immediately dodged his attack and quickly disarmed him, breaking his arm and shattering his wrist in the process.

"I told you to put it down." Yoshiki muttered as the attacker now gripped his twisted limb.

"He said we could have it after we gave it to you." He gasped through pained breaths falling to his knees. The other one again tried to grab at the cloth in Yoshiki's hand but ended up being knocked out by the butt of Yoshiki's gun.

"Stay down! Both of you!" He commanded as he pointed the gun at the former knife wielder and pulled out his cell phone. "Figured he sent you, it's pretty obvious what's going on." He muttered under his breath. He was about to call for back up when his vision suddenly blurred and his head began to ache. 'Shit…' He thought to himself as he felt the effects of the drug set in.

The room started spinning as a soft sound seemed to echo in the distance. He couldn't pinpoint what it was but it sounded feminine, even familiar and it seemed to get louder and louder. He attempted to shake away the effects of the toxic drug coursing through his veins as the sound now emanated from within the room. In fact, it sounded like a scream, a very familiar one, a cry for help.

"Shinozaki?" He gasped as he snapped out of his haze. He heard a muffled cry in response and turned towards the direction of it. "Shinozaki."

She was lying on his living room floor, inches from his coffee table and in front of his television, clad in only a hospital gown. Wrists and ankles bound with rope, blindfolded and gagged, she was calling out to him, the sound of her voice muffled by the cloth in her mouth.

"Oh thank God, you're back." He breathed a sigh of relief but only for a brief moment as the direness of her situation set in. He turned to his injured and unconscious assailants, "don't move." He kept his gun on them as he rushed over to her and quickly unfastened the ropes around her.

"Kishinuma! That bastard! He tried but I didn't tell him anything! Did he really go back on his word?! That bastard!" She hollered this nonsense as soon as the rag was removed from her mouth and the blindfold was taken away. "What's happening?! Tell me!"

"I thought you could answer that. He told us he had a plan, I guess we'll figure that out soon enough, unfortunately."

"He told me too." She nodded as she gasped for breath. "I'm glad you're okay, he was telling me something otherwise; like he had betrayed his word, though he'll pay, since I betrayed my word to him too." Her eyes shifted towards the floor.

"About that…" He wanted to ask what she was talking about but trailed off as he felt the full effects start to set in and the realization of the evil doctor's plan start to set in as well.

"I can't stand this! I just want the stuff!" He heard a desperate cry from over his shoulder. He looked down noticing that he still had the drugged cloth clenched in his hands. He was talking about Magic, he was a druggy looking for a fix. "I mean what's better than shit that not only gets you high but gets you action?! GIVE IT TO ME!"

Yoshiki turned swiftly to see the masked man pull out a gun, pointing it at him using his only good arm. In that instant, Yoshiki aimed his gun held tightly his other hand at his assailant and fired. It happened all in the blink of an eye, Ayumi screamed as the loud bang echoed from the barrel of the gun. The masked figure crumpled to the floor, a pool of blood formed around his head and an obvious gunshot wound through the forehead of the mask.

"Dammit." Yoshiki sighed wishing it hadn't had come to that, though there was nothing else that could have been done; he knew that all too well as he set his weapon aside.

"Oh God." Ayumi gasped.

"Sorry you had to see that-GAH!" Yoshiki clenched his teeth and gripped the sides of his head.

"Wh-what's going on?!" Ayumi stumbled back exposing her thigh and allowing a peek up her gown, his eyes drifted over toward her and a small trickle of drool left his lip as he focused on the delightful sight that graced him. He bit his lip as tons of risqué thoughts swirled through his mind and he felt his impulse control slowly dwindling. He was struggling to fight his urges though they were growing stronger by the minute as he took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"Shinozaki, just get out of here now, tell my neighbors to call the police and here's my phone, you can use it to call for back up. Tell them it's urgent." He put his cell phone in her outstretched hand along with his gun. "Use this if you absolutely have to. I…." He could feel his grip become tighter on her wrist, wanting to not let her go but pull her closer instead; he quickly released her and backed away. She held the gun and trembled, shaking like a leaf.

"I… I don't know how to use this."

"You just pull the trigger." He muttered through clenched teeth. "It doesn't matter now; you just have to get out of here." He quickly pushed her out of the door then shut it and fastened the lock. "Please, just get out of here." He whispered as she knocked frantically on the door.

"Wait, Kishinuma-Kun. Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me…. Just…." He trailed off as he felt the drug finally take over his system.

"Alright, I'll get help for you and call for back up. Hang in there, whatever's wrong I'll get help, I'll be right back." It hadn't occurred to her yet apparently, she must not have seen the cloth in his hand. Her small bare feet echoed as she bolted down the hall and soon the noise of her footsteps faded in the distance. A devilish grin crossed his face and an eerie chuckle escaped his lips as he stood in front of the door, thin wisps of dark mist escaping from his body.

"I'll be waiting for you… Shinozaki."


End file.
